Of Dreams & Shadows Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Components
• Game Setup
  • Prepare The Map
  • Reset the Fate Dial
  • Choose Your Villain
  • Prepare The Decks
  • Select your Champions
  • Create The Treasury
  • Create The Hand
• How To Play
  • Acts & Turns
  • Determining Initiative
  • The Action Phase
  • Tests
  • The Combat Phase
    • Combat Rounds
    • Attacking
    • Defending
    • Joining Forces
    • Retreat
    • Ambush
    • Duel
    • Victory and Defeat
  • The Scenario Phase
    • Completing the Scenario
  • The Event Phase
• Cards & Tokens
  • Champions
    • Health & Willpower
  • Resources
    • Acquiring Resources
    • Using Resources & Stacking Resources
  • Scenarios & Quests
    • Quests
  • Afflictions
  • Events
  • Foes
    • Foe Stats
    • Special Abilities
    • Foe Deck & Foes on the Map
  • Villains
  • Tokens
    • Fate Token
    • Boon Tokens
    • Gold
    • Quest Tokens
    • Shadow Tokens
    • Champion Tokens
    • Foe Health Tokens

Game Components

1 Game Board

41 Character Cards

• 8 Champions
• 3 Villains
• 30 Foes

100 Scenario Cards

• 64 World Scenarios
• 36 Quest Scenarios

48 Resource Cards

40 Affliction Cards

15 Event Cards

6 Story Ending Cards

72 Standees

95 Tokens

• 1 Fate Token
• 18 Shadow Tokens
• 24 Gold Tokens
• 12 Boon Tokens
• 8 Champion Health Tokens
• 8 Champion Willpower Tokens
• 12 Foe Health Tokens
• 12 Quest Tokens

Game Setup

Follow these steps to prepare for a new game:

Prepare The Map

Place the map in the center of the play area.

Reset the Fate Dial

Place the Fate token at Position #1 of the Fate Dial, which is on the top right corner of the map.

Choose Your Villain

As a group, choose your Villain and read the front side of the Villain card for instructions on placement of initial Quest and Shadow tokens and Foe standees on the map. Place tokens and standees on the map appropriately and put the rest in an easy to reach location by the left side of the map.

Prepare The Decks

Sort the cards by type and shuffle each deck. Place the decks across the bottom and the right hand side of the map. The decks from left to right are: Resource, Affliction, World Scenarios (Capital, Realm, Wilds, and Hollows), Quest Scenarios (of the chosen Villain), Foe and Event. The Foe Deck includes all Regular Foe cards except for Epic Foe cards. Epic Foes aligned to the chosen Villain should be placed face-down next to the Villain card. Quest Scenarios and Epic Foes of other Villains should be returned to the game box.

Select your Champions

Each player selects a Champion card and searches the Resource deck for their starting Resource cards. Then each player puts their starting Gold on their Champion card, and places the Champion standee on the listed starting location. Finally, each player marks their Champion's Health and Willpower on the tracks at the bottom of the map with the Champion tokens.

Create The Treasury

Place the remaining Gold on the left hand side of the map.

Create The Hand

Flip the top 5 cards of the Resource deck face-up and place them side-by-side below the Resource deck.

Lay the Resource, Event and Quest Decks out from left to right across the bottom of the map. Place the Event, Villain and foe decks down the right-hand edge of the map.

How To Play

Acts & Turns

The game is divided into two Acts. Act I has up to 5 Turns, each having four phases of game-play: Action, Combat, Scenario, and Event. At the end of each Event phase the Fate Token advances one space. The Fate token moving to the #5 position of the Fate Dial signals the final Turn of Act I. The Villain then enters play at the beginning of Act II. In Act II, each Turn only has two phases: Action and Combat. Act II also has up to five Turns and will only end earlier if the Villain or Champions are defeated.

When the game ends, the players may then read from the relevant Story Ending Card to learn the fate of their Champions.

Determining Initiative

At the beginning of each Turn, the players compare their Champions' Agility trait to determine Initiative for the Action, Combat, Scenario and Event phases. The player with the Champion that has the highest Agility goes first. If there is a tie between Champions, Initiative is determined by comparing die rolls between those players, where the highest roll wins Initiative. Once Initiative has been determined, sequence of play proceeds clockwise around the table from the player with Initiative.

The Action Phase

During the Action Phase, a player has up to 3 available actions of the following types: Travel, Rest, Invoke a Spell, Acquire Resources, Gift or Take, activate their Champion's Special Action or Purge Shadows. Players may opt to use multiple actions of the same type except for Special Actions. They may only perform the Special Action once per Turn. Players can also pass on taking an action. The player with Initiative takes his or her actions first. Play then proceeds to the next player clockwise. Once all players have spent their actions, the Action phase is complete.

Players may perform the following types of actions:

Travel — Move your Champion standee to an adjacent space on the map connected by a travel path. Solid lines are paths above the earth, while dotted lines are underground routes.

Rest — Take a moment for your Champion to mend their wounds and regain up to 2 Health; mark this on the Health track on the map. You cannot exceed the maximum Health listed on the Champion card.

Invoke A Spell — Select a Spell that has been acquired by your Champion. Complete the instructions on the card.

Acquire Resources — While your Champion standee is on a Capital or Realm space, select a Resource card in the Hand. Pay the required Gold cost or complete the listed Test to attach the Resource card to your Champion. Attached cards are placed next to the Champion's card. Restock the Hand back to five cards from the top of the Resource deck. When acquiring a Resource card the player may also opt to discard another card from the Hand and restock two cards.

Gift/Take — Help allies by attaching any number of Weapon, Armour, Item or Relic cards and any amount, of Gold or Quest tokens from your Champion to another Champion with a standee located on the same space. Combat Feats, Spells and Companions cannot be part of a Gift action. Alternatively, a player may use an action to take Resources from another Champion on the same space, but this requires the owner's consent.

Special Action — Perform the steps listed on the Champion Card.

Purge Shadows — Remove a shadow token from the space your Champion is on.

Tests

All challenges in the game, from acquiring a Resource card to completing a Scenario, involve a Test. Each Test specifies a trait to test against, and a difficulty score.

To complete a test, the player rolls a die and adds the value of the die roll to the trait; this number is the test result. If the test result is equal to or higher than the difficulty score, the player has passed the Test successfully. If the test result is below the difficulty score, then the player has failed the Test and may suffer any negative consequences that are listed on the card. For Tests in Scenarios, players have the option to spend any available Boon tokens to increase the die roll, up to a maximum die roll of 6, to help pass the Test.

The Combat Phase

Once the Action Phase is complete, each player with a Champion standee on the same space as a Foe standee enters combat.

Combat Rounds

Combat is managed in rounds with the same order of play as the Action Phase, excluding players not involved in combat. Combat rounds continue until each Foe or Champion is defeated.

Attacking

Each player selects a Foe to engage during the combat round, they attack that Foe by performing an Attack Test — roll a die and add the result to the Champion's Might trait. Players may have Resource or Affliction cards attached to their Champion that modify Might. 1 Willpower can also be spent to reroll a die, once per combat round. Compare the test result against the Foe's Defense Score. If a player succeeds in the Attack Test, then the Foe loses Health equal to the difference between the test result and the Foe's Defense Score.

Defending

After attacking, the Champion must defend against the Foe's attack. Even if a Foe has been defeated from a Champion's attack, the Foe always gets a final attack in the round before combat ends. For the Defense Test — roll a die and add the result to the Champion's Agility trait. This test uses the same Resource cards selected for attacking to modify Agility. 1 Willpower can also be spent to reroll a die, if not already spent on the Attack Test.

Compare the test result against the Foe's Attack Score. Success means that the Champion loses no Health. Failure results in the Champion losing Health equal to the difference between the test result and the Foe's Attack Score. Players mark this loss of Health by moving the chit for the Champion down the Health track.

Joining Forces

In the situation where multiple Champions and Foes are on the same space, players may have their Champions team up and target the same Foe. Players with Champions in the same combat can also decide the order for attacking. Once all Champions have performed an Attack Test, a designated Champion must perform a Defense Test against each Foe (a Foe gets one attack per round). Players can decide which Champion(s) must defend against each Foe, and in what order. However, certain enemy abilities on targeting may overrule the players' choice.

Retreat

At the end of each combat round, a player may opt to Retreat. Retreat involves moving the Champion standee back to the previous space they occupied. Players may not have their Champions Retreat if there is another Foe on that space. Also, certain Scenarios, Afflictions and Foes prevent Retreat. A Retreat ends combat for that Champion.

Ambush

Certain card effects or actions begin an Ambush, which starts combat outside of the normal Combat Phase. One combat round occurs between the Ambushing attacker and the Ambushed defender. If a Champion is the Ambusher, they perform an Attack Test, but no Defense Test. If a Champion is Ambushed, they perform a Defense Test, but no Attack Test. After this combat round is over, the Ambush ends. Depending on the situation of the Ambush, regular combat may then ensue. An Ambush resulting from a Scenario typically starts a full combat phase, as instructed on the Scenario card. No combat occurs after an Ambush from an ability or Special Action.

Duel

Certain Foes and Scenarios will call for a Duel against the Champion. In a Duel, combat takes place the same as in a regular combat round, except the Champion cannot gain any bonuses provided by Companion cards. The Champion may not switch opponents during the Duel. Also, no other Champion may engage in combat with the duelling Foe. The Duel ends when the Champion defeats the Foe, Retreats, or is defeated.

Victory and Defeat

A Foe is defeated when its Health is reduced to 0. Defeated Regular Foe standees are removed from the map and the relevant Foe cards are shuffled back into the Foe deck. Defeated Epic Foes are removed from the game. Champions are defeated when their Health or Willpower are reduced to 0.

During Act I, any player whose Champion is defeated may choose another Champion to enter play at the beginning of the next Turn. During Act II, a player whose Champion is defeated has lost the game. There may also be conditions on the Villain card that, if fulfilled, would result in defeat for all Champions. Act II has a maximum of 5 Turns and, if the players do not defeat the Villain by the end of the 5th Turn, they lose the game. Defeating the Villain ends the game with a victory for the surviving Champions.

The Scenario Phase

Once the Combat Phase ends, the Scenario Phase begins. Beginning with the player that has Initiative, each player draws a face-down card from a Scenario deck and passes the card, unread, to another player. This player then reads the Scenario out loud, which often ends with either a Test against a specified trait and/or a choice. The outcome of a Success or Failure should only be read after the Test. In the case of a Choice, the consequences should also only be revealed after the player makes a decision. Certain Scenarios won't have a Failure section, which means there is no specific penalty for failing the Test.

Some World Scenarios and nearly all Quest Scenarios have 2 parts. A player must succeed in the first part to continue to the second part.

To determine which deck to draw from, players look at the space that their Champion standee is on. If there is a quest token on the current space then the player may choose to draw from the Quest Scenario Deck. Otherwise, or if the player chooses not to draw from the Quest Scenario deck, the player draws from the World Scenario deck matching their current space.

If the Scenario involves combat against a Foe, proceed under the same rules as the Combat Phase. Other Champion standees on the same space can also assist in the combat, which is crucial when facing Epic Foes in Quest Scenarios.

Each Villain has its own dedicated Quest deck with a distinctive card back.

Completing the Scenario

After a Scenario is completed, any benefits or penalties are applied to the Champion and the Scenario card is placed at the bottom of the deck, face-up. When a deck is completely face-up, no more Scenarios of that type can occur for the rest of the game. Once each Champion has finished a Scenario, the Event Phase begins.

The Event Phase

At the beginning of the Event Phase, the player with Initiative draws and reads an Event card from the top of the Event deck. Players follow the instructions on the Event card. The player with Initiative places the Event card face-down at the bottom of the deck and moves the Fate token on the Fate Dial to the next spot. The player with Initiative reads the instructions on the Act I side of the Villain card and places new Foes and/or shadow tokens accordingly. The Turn then ends and the next begins.

The 5th position on the Fate Dial is the final Turn in Act I. When it ends, the second Act begins. The players should flip the Villain card over and read the instructions on the card, which are considered to take place at the beginning of the first Turn in Act II. Turns then proceed with Action and Combat Phases for up to 5 Turns or until the Villain or Champions are defeated.

Cards & Tokens

Champions

Champion cards provide a short description of the Champion along with starting statistics and location space. Players attach Resources, Gold, Afflictions and other game objects to the card to track the Champion's journey throughout the game. Each Champion card is paired with a Champion standee, which is used to mark the Champion's location on the map.

Health, Willpower, and traits are listed down the right hand side of the card. Starting Resources are also listed and any named Resource cards may be taken from the Resource deck at the beginning of the game and attached to the Champion card. Every Champion also has a Special Action that may be used only once per Turn and a Passive Ability that provides an automatic benefit. Also, certain Champions have the Spirit-touched trait, which is required to attach and use Spell cards.

Each Champion card lists the following traits: Health, Willpower, Might, Agility, Insight, Awareness, Persuasion, Resolve, and (for some Champions) Spirit-Touched.

Health & Willpower

Health represents the vitality of the Champion. A Champion with high Health can sustain more damage and has a better chance of surviving combat against hard-hitting Foes. Willpower can be spent in combat to reroll a die, once per combat round. In the case of Champions that can roll 2 dice in combat, spending Willpower results in one new die roll. Willpower can also be lost through Afflictions or failing certain Scenarios.

Both Health and Willpower may be regained, but may not exceed the stat listed on the Champion card. Lost Health tends to be easier to replenish due to the Rest action, while Willpower is more difficult to regain. A Champion whose Health is reduced to zero has been killed. A Champion whose Willpower is reduced to zero has lost the will to fight against the coming darkness. In either case, the Champion is defeated. Remove the Champion's standee from the board and discard all attached cards and tokens.

Resources

Resource cards augment and improve the power of a Champion. In the Action Phase of each Turn, players with a Champion standee on a Capital or Realm space may attempt to acquire Resource cards from the Hand. Resources can also be acquired during Scenarios, in which case the Scenario may instruct the player to search the Resource deck or Hand for a specific Resource to equip. There are seven types of Resource cards: Combat Feats, Spells, Companions, Weapons, Armour, Items and Relics.

Acquiring Resources

While most Resources can be bought with gold, Companions must be recruited through a Persuasion Test and Relics can only be obtained by completing specific Scenarios. Also, only Champions that are Spirit-Touched may acquire and use Spells.

When a player acquires a Resource from the Hand they may also choose to discard a second card from the Hand and restock two cards. Whenever a player discards a Resource, the card is reshuffled back into the Resource Deck.

Using Resources & Stacking Resources

A Champion's traits can be modified by the bonuses granted by attached Resource cards, but players may not stack bonuses from the same type of Resource. For the purpose of applying bonuses, Relic cards will have either Weapon, Armour or Item written on the card and counts as that type of Resource. Players ideally benefit from attaching multiple different types of Resource cards to stack bonuses.

When a Champion has multiple of the same type of Resource cards attached, the player may only use one of them for any given Test or combat round. For example, a Player may have three Weapon cards attached to their Champion, one of which is a Relic. That player may only select one of the three for the purposes of gaining a bonus for both attacking and defending in a combat round.

The effect of a Combat Feat is represented by the Activation symbol. Feats can be used once per Turn, during combat and last for a single combat round. A player must activate the Feat before the die roll in a combat round by turning the card sideways.

Similarly to Weapons, Armour and Items, Spell bonuses may not be stacked.

Scenarios & Quests

Each location space on the map falls into one of four types: Capital, Realm, Wilds, and Hollows. Each location type is associated with one of the World Scenario decks. World Scenario cards represent storyline challenges facing the Champions as they travel across the map. Completed World Scenarios are placed face-up at the bottom of the deck. When a World Scenario deck is completely face-up, no more World Scenarios of that type can occur for the rest of the game.

Quests

There is a Quest Scenario deck for each Villain, once the Villain has been selected remove all but the matching Quest Scenario deck from the game. Quest Scenarios tend to have 2 parts. A Champion must pass any Test in the first part to proceed to the second part.

Certain Quest Scenarios also involve combat against Epic Foes. It is recommended that Champions are well-armed and have backup from allies when facing these enemies. If the Champion that began the Quest Scenario Retreats from combat, other supporting Champions may continue the fight. In this case, the Champion that deals the killing blow on the last Foe may continue the Quest Scenario and receive any rewards. Completed Quest Scenarios are placed face-up at the bottom of the deck. When the Quest Scenario deck is completely face-up, no more Quest Scenarios can occur for the rest of the game.

Afflictions

Affliction cards represent debilitating effects that weaken and hinder the Champions. When a Champion gains an Affliction, the card is attached by placing it next to the Champion card. Affliction penalties stack; if another of the same type of Affliction is attached, increase the negative effect listed on the card where applicable. Also, the method to remove the Affliction will only apply to one card at a time. There are three types of Affliction cards: Mental, Physical, and Magical.

If a player completes the requirements to discard an Affliction, the card should be reshuffled back into the Affliction Deck.

Events

Events represent a series of incidents that happen during Act I. At the end of each Turn, one of the players draws the top card of the Event deck and reads the instructions. The card is then placed face-down at the bottom of the deck.

Foes

Each Villain has a host of unique Foes, charged with carrying out their plans. Epic Foes are the most deadly servants of the Villains and are linked to Quest Scenarios. It is recommended for Champions to be well equipped with Resource cards when facing an Epic Foe.

Foe Stats

Foes have cards that are used to reference their stats and abilities during combat. Each Foe card has 4 stats: Defense Score, Attack Score, Health and Gold. These stats are represented by an icon on the Foe Card.

Defense Score — The Defense Score represents a Foe's resistance to damage from a Champion's attack. During combat, it is compared against a Champion's Attack test result to determine if the Foe loses any Health.

Attack Score — The Attack Score is the amount of damage the Foe can potentially inflict and is compared against the Defense test result to determine if the Champion loses Health.

Health — The vitality of a Foe. When a Foe's Health is reduced to zero, the Foe is defeated.

Gold — The amount of gold a Champion receives for defeating the Foe. Gold from a Foe is only given to the Champion that deals the killing blow.

Special Abilities

Some Foes have special abilities printed on their card that hinder Champions and may activate during combat.

Foe Deck & Foes on the Map

Epic Foes are not included in the Foe Deck as these types of Foes only appear during specific Quest Scenarios. Instead they remain face-down next to the Villain card until a Quest Scenario brings them into play. When this occurs, the Epic Foe card is turned face-up and the matching standee is placed on the map.

The Foe deck is comprised of all Regular Foe cards. When a player is directed to place a specific Foe on the map, the player should turn over cards from the top of the Foe deck until they find the named Foe.

They then place the Foe card face-up next to the Villain card and also place the matching standee on the designated location space before reshuffling the Foe deck. It is possible to have multiple Foe cards in the Villain's camp at any time.

When a Foe is defeated in combat, the player who defeated the Foe removes the standee from the map. When there are no more Foe standees of a specific Foe, the matching card is shuffled back into the Foe Deck.

Villains

Villains are represented in the game with a dual-faced card, with one face for each Act and a standee to represent the Villain in play in Act II. The instructions on each side of the card will describe in-game events and combat abilities that are unique to each Villain. The Villain's stats are also listed on the Act II side and function the same as Foe stats. If players are instructed to place tokens on the map equal to half the number of Champions, always round up for the number of tokens (e.g. 3 Champions = 2 tokens).

While on the map, Villains are treated as Foes for all effects and abilities.

Each Villain also has a pair of associated Story Ending Cards. At the end of each game the player with Initiative reads the relevant Story Ending card.

Tokens

Different types of tokens represent various elements in the game.

Fate Token

The Fate token is used to mark the passage of Turns. The game begins with the Fate token placed on the #1 position of the Fate Dial. At the end of each Turn, the Fate token should be moved to the next position.

Boon Tokens

Boon tokens can be used to increase any die roll in a Scenario or Quest up to a maximum of six (1 value per boon token).

Gold

Gold is used to purchase Resource cards from the Hand. Players earn gold by completing Scenarios and defeating Foes. Any Scenario that awards gold lists the amount on the card.

Quest Tokens

Quest tokens are marked with the head of a white stag on the front and a location on the back. Tokens identify where Quest Scenarios may take place. When players are directed to randomly place a Quest token, select a token from a face-down pile and flip it over to see the space to place it. When a Champion successfully completes a Quest Scenario, move the Quest token to the Champion's card. Quest tokens can also be spent, as specified on a Villain's card, to aid the Champions in Act II.

Shadow Tokens

Shadow tokens represent the encroaching darkness spreading across the kingdoms. As with Quest tokens, Shadow tokens have a location space on the reverse side to determine random placement. Champions should attempt to limit the number of Shadow tokens on the map or risk being overwhelmed in Act II.

Champion Tokens

There are 2 Champion tokens for each Champion that are placed on the Health and Willpower tracks at the bottom of the map. This helps players keep track of their Champion's well-being as they complete Scenarios and engage in combat.

Foe Health Tokens

Foe Health tokens can be placed on Foe cards to keep track of a Foe's Health during combat.