Ohne Furcht und Adel Sonderausgabe Rulebook

Table of Contents

Game Components
Object of the Game
The Cards
Setup
- Changes for Different Numbers of Players
Sequence of a Round
Sequence of a Character's Turn
The 8 Character Cards
End of Game & Winner
Variant: Action Cards
Credits

Game Components

The 8 character cards (dark card backs) are placed as a face-down stack in the middle of the table.
The 65 building cards (12 yellow, 11 blue, 20 green, 11 red, and 11 violet; light card backs) are shuffled well and placed as a face-down stack in the middle of the table.
The 30 gold pieces are placed in the middle of the table.
Each player takes one of the 7 overview cards.
The oldest player is named king for the first round and, as a sign of his rank, places the king figure in front of himself.

The game can now begin, as described below.

Object of the Game

Each player tries to build their own city by laying out eight buildings that are as valuable as possible. To do this, players repeatedly take on the role of different characters in order to make use of their advantages.

The Cards

1. The 8 Character Cards

Each of the eight character cards offers a special ability, which is explained later.

2. The 65 Building Cards

The object of the game is to lay out building cards in order to score as many points as possible. A building card costs gold and yields points.

The cost and the points of a given building card are identical and can be recognized by the number of gold pieces printed on it.

Each building card is assigned to a particular color:

Yellow — advantages for the King
Blue — advantages for the Bishop
Green — advantages for the Merchant
Red — advantages for the Warlord
Violet — no advantages tied to a particular character

The violet building cards are on average more expensive and more valuable than the building cards of the other four colors. The printed text grants a special advantage to the player who has such a card in play. This advantage can be used every round the player takes their turn.

The 15 Action Cards (white)

If the variant is played, the 15 action cards are mixed into the stack with the building cards before the game begins. Each player takes 4 cards from this stack.

Setup

The 8 character cards (dark card backs) are placed as a face-down stack in the middle of the table.
The 65 building cards are shuffled well and placed as a face-down stack in the middle of the table. If playing with the action cards variant, the 15 action cards are mixed into this stack before the game begins.
The 30 gold pieces are placed in the middle of the table. Each player takes 2 gold pieces.
Each player takes one of the 7 overview cards.
The oldest player is named king for the first round and places the king figure in front of himself.

Each player then looks at the top card of the (building) deck and lays it face down next to themselves. The remaining cards are looked at by the king, who chooses one and lays it face down in front of himself. He passes the remaining cards face down to his left-hand neighbor, who likewise chooses a card, lays it in front of himself, and passes the cards on. Two cards remain for the last player: he keeps one and lays the other face down in the middle of the table. Each player takes 4 cards from this stack, as with their building cards.

Changes for Different Numbers of Players

2 players: The king (player A) shuffles the 8 character cards. He looks at the top card and lays it face down in the middle of the table. From the remaining 7 cards he chooses one for himself and passes 6 cards to his fellow player (player B). B chooses 1 card for himself and one more, which he lays face down in the middle of the table. B gives the remaining 4 cards back to A. A again chooses 1 card for himself and one more, which he lays in the middle of the table. A passes the remaining 2 cards to B, who keeps 1 card again and lays the last card face down in the middle of the table. Both players now have 2 characters.

3 players: The king (player A) shuffles the 8 character cards. He looks at the top card and lays it face down in the middle of the table. From the remaining 7 cards he chooses one for himself and passes 6 cards to player B. B chooses 1 card and passes the remaining 5 cards to player C. C chooses 1 card and passes 4 cards to A, and so on. Finally C receives 2 cards, of which he keeps 1 and lays the last card face down in the middle of the table. All 3 players now have 2 characters.

7 players: With 7 players, the last player receives only 1 card from his right-hand neighbor. He now adds to it the card the king laid face down at the start. From these two cards he chooses one and lays the other face down in the middle of the table.

Sequence of a Round

The king is the starting player. He shuffles the character cards and, depending on the number of players, lays 0–2 cards face up in the middle of the table.

Number of players	2–3	4	5	6–7
Face-up cards	0	2	1	0

(If the "King" character card is among the face-up cards, it is mixed back in and another card is revealed in its place.)

Afterward, the king calls out the characters one after another in the order given on the overview card. If a player has the called character card in front of him, he must reveal himself, turn the card face up, and carry out his turn. He then lays his character card in the middle of the table. If no player speaks up (because the character is among the cards that were laid aside, or because the character was assassinated), the king calls the next character.

Once all players have taken their turns and the character cards have been returned to the middle of the table, a new round begins.

Sequence of a Character's Turn

Once a character has revealed himself, his turn begins:

Income: He takes 2 gold pieces, or he takes 2 building cards from the face-down stack, chooses one of them, and takes it into his hand. He puts the other card on the discard pile.
Build action: He may then lay 1 building card from his hand in front of himself on the table and continue building his city. He pays the number of gold pieces printed on the card into the middle of the table.

Attention: Each building may only be laid out once in a city. For example, a city that already has a Tavern in play may not have a second Tavern laid out.
Character action: At any point during his turn, he may make use of his character ability. This means a player must decide on the timing at which he uses his ability (see also the examples at the end of the description of the character cards).

With 2 and 3 players, each player has 2 characters and is therefore at his turn twice per round. Players can use this tactically, for instance by saving the income of the first character in order to erect an expensive building with the next one.

The 8 Character Cards

1) Assassin

He names a character whom he wants to assassinate this round. If the chosen character is called, that player does not reveal himself and may not carry out any action this round.

For example, if the Assassin has chosen the Merchant, the Merchant sits out this round. The Merchant does not reveal himself when he is called and takes no turn.

2) Thief

He names a character whom he wants to rob this round. He may not choose the Assassin or the character who was assassinated.

If the chosen character is called, he must reveal himself and immediately hand over all of his gold to the Thief. For example, if the Thief has chosen the Bishop, the Bishop must hand over his entire supply of gold pieces to the Thief at the start of his turn.

Gold that the robbed character receives during the course of his turn, he may keep. If the character does not reveal himself because the corresponding card was laid aside face down, the Thief is out of luck and receives nothing.

3) Wizard

He may either:

swap his hand cards with the hand cards of a fellow player (these may also be different numbers of cards, see also Example 3), or
lay any number of hand cards on the open discard pile and draw the same number of building cards.

4) King

He receives the king figure and takes on the following rights and duties:

Rights: He is the starting player in the next round and is the first to choose a character.

Duties: As long as the king figure stands before him, he calls out the characters.

The King receives 1 gold piece for every yellow building card he has in play.

If no new king reveals himself (because his card was laid aside face down or his character was assassinated), the previous king remains in office and continues to take on his duties.

Special cases:

a) If the King is assassinated, the acting king remains in office until the end of the round. At the start of the next round, the king figure passes to the king who was assassinated in the previous round.

b) If the king figure has been laid aside, the acting king also remains in office for the next round.

5) Bishop

His building cards cannot be removed by the Warlord. The Bishop receives 1 gold piece for every blue building card he has in play.

6) Merchant

He receives 1 gold piece. The Merchant receives 1 gold piece for every green building card he has in play.

7) Architect

He receives 2 building cards. The Architect may lay out up to 2 additional building cards on his turn. In this way the Architect can have more than 8 buildings in play with his last turn at the end of the game.

8) Warlord

He may remove one building card from a fellow player. Cards worth only 1 gold piece he may remove for free. For other building cards he pays 1 gold piece less than they cost their owner. The gold goes into the general supply. If he removes a building card, he places it on the discard pile.

The Warlord may also destroy buildings belonging to assassinated characters. However, he may not attack a city that already consists of 8 or more building cards. The Warlord receives 1 gold piece for every red building card he has in play.

Three Examples Illustrating the Use of Character Abilities

The Merchant has, at the start of his turn: 0 gold pieces, 1 "Counting House" in hand, and (among other buildings) 2 green buildings in play. He plays in this order: he takes 1 gold (Merchant's ability) + 2 gold (income). Then he lays out the Counting House for 3 gold. Finally he collects 3 gold for his now 3 green buildings in his city.
Or he plays in this order: he takes 1 gold (Merchant's ability) + 2 gold (for his 2 green buildings) + 1 card (income). Then he lays out the Counting House for 3 gold. He would then have no gold left at the end, but 1 card in hand.
The Wizard has, at the start of his turn: 2 gold pieces and 1 Castle in hand. He takes 2 gold (income) and lays out the Castle for 4 gold. Then he swaps his entire hand of cards (0 cards!) with the hand cards of a fellow player (e.g. 3 cards). At the end of his turn the Wizard therefore has 3 hand cards, and the fellow player 0 cards.

End of Game & Winner

The game ends as soon as a player lays out his eighth building card. The round is played to its end. Each player then receives the following points:

All points from all building cards in his city.
3 points if the player has building cards in play in all 5 different colors.
4 points for whichever player first has 8 building cards in play.
2 points for players who likewise have 8 building cards in play.
Gold brings no points.

The winner is whichever player scores the most points. In case of a tie, the player who can score the most points from his building cards alone wins.

Variant: Action Cards

The 15 action cards are mixed into the stack with the building cards before the game begins. Players can therefore receive action cards into their hand whenever they draw cards from the face-down stack (e.g. during income). Players initially take action cards into their hand just like their building cards.

In addition to the usual actions (income, build action, and character action), a player may play 1 action card from his hand per turn. Unless stated otherwise, the player may play the action card at any point during his turn. After playing it, the player carries out the stated action and then lays the card on the discard pile, unless stated otherwise.

For every action card a player still has in hand at the end of the game, he receives 1 point.

Circus Tent (3 copies)

The player lays this card face up in front of himself, as with a building card. This is not a build action. The Circus Tent remains in front of the player until the end of the game. It counts toward the end-of-game condition and toward scoring as one of the 8 buildings. The Circus Tent has no cost, no points, and no color. A player may lay out several Circus Tents (though only one per turn). This card cannot be destroyed by the Warlord.

Ticket Booth (3 copies)

The player first lays this card face up in front of himself. Each fellow player may, once during his turn, place one of his gold pieces on this card and, in exchange, take 2 cards from the face-down stack and keep one of them (as with income). Immediately after a fellow player has placed gold on the card — and only then — may the owner of the Ticket Booth lay the card on the discard pile and take all the gold pieces collected on it for himself. The player in front of whom the Ticket Booth lies may not himself place gold on it. (If the Ticket Booth is still in front of the player at the end of the game, the player discards the card, and the gold collected on it returns to the middle of the table.)

Acrobat (1 copy)

If the King is called and does not reveal himself (e.g. because no player chose the card, or because the King was assassinated), a player may play the Acrobat from his hand. The player takes the king figure and takes on the role of the King, meaning he calls out the characters and may choose a character first at the start of the round. The player keeps the king figure until another player is called as king or an Acrobat is played.

Fortune Teller (2 copies)

The player may look at a fellow player's hand cards and take one of these hand cards for himself.

Rasputin (2 copies)

If an assassinated character is called, that player's owner may play Rasputin from his hand. He may then carry out his turn as usual.

Director (2 copies)

The player may lay out up to 2 additional building cards on his turn. The Director may also be played by the Architect, who can then lay out up to 5 buildings on his turn.

Living Cannonball (2 copies)

The player may (in addition to his regular build action) rebuild one building in his city. He lays a building card from his city onto the discard pile and, in exchange, lays out a building card that costs more from his hand. The player pays only the difference between the two cards for this.

Credits

For countless test rounds, suggestions, and proposals the author thanks Nadine Bernard, Pascal Bernard, Maud Bissonnet, Scarlett Bocchi, Frank Branham, David Calvo & Muriel Sitruk, Brent & Maryann Carter, Fabienne Cazalis, Pitt Crandlemire, Isabelle Duvaux, Thierry Fau, Nathalie Grégoire, Philippe Keyaerts, David Kuznik, Serge Laget, Myriam Lemaire, Pierre Lemoigne, Tristan Lhomme, Hervé Marly, Bernard Mendiburu, Hélène Michaux, Steffan O'Sullivan, Philippe des Pallieres, Jean-Marc Pauty, Pierre Rosenthal, Fred Savart, Mik Svellov, Irène Villa, Alan Moon, and the participants of his 10th Gathering of Friends.

Illustration: Julien Delval, Florence Magnin, Jean-Louis Mourier, Melanie Maier