Orb Hunters Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• How to Play
• Phase 1. Assigning Adventurers
  • KILLER Skill
  • SHIELDED Skill
  • CHARISMATIC Skill
  • SLY Skill
  • TRENTIS
• Phase 2. Determining a New Start Player
• Phase 3. Obtaining Relics
  • What Do the Relics Provide?
• Phase 4. New Round - End of the Game
• Final Score
  • Final Score for 2 Players
• Game Variants
  • Simple Relics
  • Apprentices
  • Hidden Treasures
  • Tough Adventurers
  • Teams
  • Strategic Variant
• Achievements

Components

68 CARDS:

• 5 Initial Relic Cards (1 for each player)
• 5 Initial Adventurer Cards (1 for each player)
• 22 Relic Cards
• 36 Adventurer Cards (6 for each Adventurer and 6 "Trentis")
• 30 Adventurer Markers (6 for each Adventurer)
• 1 Start Player Marker

Game Setup

1. Give the Start Player Marker to the last player who went on a long trip. You can also do it randomly.

2. Randomly give an Initial Adventurer card to each player, which will be your Adventurer. Keep this card at sight for all to see. In games of less than 5 players, remove the remaining Initial Adventurer cards from the game. 2-PLAYER games: Give 2 Initial Adventurer cards to each player, each player will embody 2 Adventurers at the same time. The remaining card is removed from the game.

3. Remove the Adventurer markers corresponding to the Initial Adventurers who have been removed from the game. Place all the remaining Adventurer markers within the reach of all players.

4. Give 1 Initial Relic card to each player, who must put it face up in front of them, in their Pouch *. All players start the game with 1 Relic that grants them 1 Wealth Point. The remaining Initial Relics are removed from the game. *A Pouch is the set of Relics that a player has. The players already start with a Relic in their Pouch. All the Relics they get are placed on this pile. The Relic at the top should always be at sight (face up).

5. Shuffle the Relic Cards and place the deck face down in the middle of the table. Reveal the following Relic Cards:

   • Reveal 3 Relics in 2-Player games.
   • Reveal 4 Relics in 3-Player games.
   • Reveal 5 Relics in 4-Player games.
   • Reveal 6 Relics in 5-Player games.

   The Relic Cards must be placed in a row from left to right. Leave considerable space under each card, as this is where you will assign Adventurer Cards during the game.

6. Shuffle the Adventurer Cards and place the deck face down within reach of all players. Leave a space at its side to locate the discarded Adventurers during the game. Starting from the start player, each player takes 2 cards from the deck and keeps them in secret. This will be your initial Adventurers hand and they cannot be shown to any rival.

How to Play

Each player embodies an intrepid Adventurer represented in their Initial Adventurer card. Your objective will be to use the Adventurer cards to obtain Relics or avoid them.

Author's comment: You will rarely have Adventurers of your color in your hand, do not worry. The key in "Orb Hunters" is knowing how to use your Rivals' Adventurers cunningly and, occasionally, yours.

The game is played in 3 Rounds, and a specific number of Relic cards are played in each one of them.

When there are 4 Adventurer cards under ALL the Relic cards (which is called "Adventurers Limit"), the round ends and each Relic is given to the player who scores the most COURAGE points with Adventurers of the same color. Then a new round begins. At the end of the third round, you must proceed with the final score.

From now on we will refer to the "Adventurers Limit" as "AL".

Each round is divided into the following phases, which must always be carried out in the same order:

1. Assigning ADVENTURERS.
2. Determining a new START PLAYER.
3. Obtaining RELICS.
4. Reparing the NEW ROUND / END OF THE GAME.

Phase 1. Assigning Adventurers

Starting with the start player (the player with the torch) and clockwise, each player performs the following actions in their turn:

1. Recover strength: draw cards from the Adventurers deck until you have 3 cards in your hand (neither more nor less). If there were not enough Adventurer cards in the deck, shuffle the discarded Adventurer cards and create the draw pile again.

2. Assign ONE Adventurer RESPECTING the "AL": Choose ONE Adventurer card from your hand and place it under a Relic card of your choice, but never cover the Relic card. If there is already one or more Adventurer cards under that Relic, place your card on top of the last Adventurer that was placed, but never cover its COURAGE points.

VERY IMPORTANT: Respect the "AL". You cannot assign an Adventurer under a Relic that has exactly 4 Adventurer cards. This is called "Adventurers Limit" ("AL"), and it may not exceed 4.

Activate the Adventurer's Skill: You are then obliged to apply the Adventurer's Skill, ALWAYS when possible.

The Skill is shown at the top right of each card, and not all Adventurers have Skills:

KILLER Skill

Move the Adventurer card on which the Assassin is placed to the Adventurers discard pile, leaving him/her incapacitated!

Exception: The "ASSASSINS" do not use their skill if they are placed on "SHIELDED" adventurers (see below). In that case, they are placed normally, without using their skill.

Clarification: The "ASSASSINS" are the only Adventurers who can be placed under a Relic in which the "AL" has been reached, since their skill causes that there are the same number of cards after discarding the card on which it is placed. But remember, this cannot be done if the last card is a "SHIELDED" adventurer.

SHIELDED Skill

This Adventurer is NEVER affected by the "ASSASSIN" Skill. This skill is permanent and remains present while in play.

CHARISMATIC Skill

Attract and place the LAST Adventurer which is under any of the other Relic cards on top of himself/herself (remember, without covering the COURAGE points). The Adventurer you attract NEVER executes his/her skill again.

Exception: If this Adventurer finds himself/herself reaching the "AL", he/she cannot execute this skill, since he/she would be exceeding it by attracting another card. It is simply placed there then.

SLY Skill

It allows you to play another Adventurer from your hand and assign it to any Relic that has not reached the "AL". The second Adventurer you place does NOT activate his/her Skill, except if it is a "Shielded" or a "Trenti" Skill (see below).

Clarification: Due to this Skill, you will end your turn with a single card in your hand.

TRENTIS

These helpful creatures do not belong to any side... yet!

EVERY TIME you place a "Trenti", choose an Adventurer marker of your choice and place it on the banner. From then on, that Adventurer brings his/her Courage points to the corresponding player. Use them to benefit you or to harm your rivals.

REMEMBER: Whenever you can use the Skill of an Adventurer, you are obliged to use it, but there will also be situations where you will not be able to do so. In those cases, you will simply assign the Adventurer.

The turns alternate clockwise until the "AL" is reached under ALL Relic cards. At that moment, we proceed with the next game phase.

Phase 2. Determining a New Start Player

The player who has placed the last Adventurer card gives the start player marker to the next player clockwise. This will be the start player in the next round.

In the third round (the last one), this phase is irrelevant.

Phase 3. Obtaining Relics

In this phase the Relic cards handed over. This is done one by one and from left to right. This may seem absurd, but it has great repercussions at some moments during the game, so it is very important to keep in mind which Relic must be handed over and which one must be next, as well as respecting the order of resolution.

When obtaining a Relic:

1. Avoiding dangers: Look at the 4 Adventurers who have been assigned to the Relic card and verify which Adventurer has the most Courage Points in total (if there are several cards of the same Adventurer, their values are added).

2. Keeping the Relic in your Pouch: The player whose Adventurer scores the most Courage Points obtains the Relic card and keeps it in his/her Pouch (face up and on top of his/her Relics pile), in this way you can always see the last Relic that each player has obtained. Then apply the Relic Effect if there is one (see Effects below).

And what if there is a tie in Courage Points?: The Adventurer (among the tied ones) who was assigned first to the Relic, that is, the Adventurer who arrived before the rest, wins.

What Do the Relics Provide?

• Wealth Points: The player who accumulates the most Wealth Points will win the game.
• Wound Points: The player who accumulates the most Wound Points will be eliminated from the game.
• Potion Points: At the end of the game, each Potion will cancel a Player's Wound Point.

Some Relics perform powerful effects (indicated by an icon). When a player obtains these Relics, their effects are executed MANDATORILY:

• Gift: Give this Relic to a rival of your choice (and they keep it in their Pouch).
• Destruction: Remove the first Relic card in your Pouch from the game. If you do not have any Relics in your Pouch, nothing happens.
• Exchange: Exchange this Relic with the visible Relic in the Pouch of a rival of your choice.
• Theft: Attract and get the visible Relic from the player on your right / left (as indicated by the arrow). If the player on your right / left has no Relics, you attract the visible Relic of the next player in the indicated direction. The attracted Relic is placed at the top of your Pouch.

3. Proceed to hand over the following Relic (to the right). If there are no more Relics to hand over, proceed with the next game phase. If the Relic card is obtained by an Adventurer who is not represented by any player (in games of 2, 3 or 4 players), that Relic is removed from the game without executing its possible effect.

Once the Relics are handed over, all the Adventurer cards played are placed on the discard pile.

In 2-PLAYER games: Each player embodies 2 Adventurers at the same time. Therefore, their Courage values are added when determining which player acquires a Relic card.

Phase 4. New Round - End of the Game

Reveal new Relic cards according to the number of players in the game (you must always reveal as many Relic cards as number of players plus 1). The new round starts from Phase 1 · Assign Adventurers starting with the Start Player. If it is the end of the third Round, proceed directly with the Final Score.

Final Score

1. Determine the player(s) that are eliminated: The players sum all the Wound points that they have in the Relic cards in their Pouch. The player with the most Wounds is eliminated from the game.

Remember the Potion points: If you have Potions, subtract one Wound point for each Potion you have.

Is there a tie? All tied players are eliminated from the game.

2. Determine the winner: The players who have NOT been eliminated add all the Wealth Points they have in their Relic cards. The player with the most Wealth Points is the winner.

Is there a tie? The player with the GREATEST NUMBER of Relic cards wins the game. If the tie persists, the players share the victory or can enter the Fortress again and solve it with another game.

Final Score for 2 Players

No player is eliminated in 2-player games, instead both players subtract their total Wounds (remember to apply the Potions) from their total Wealth points.

The player with the most Wealth points is the winner.

Is there a tie? It is resolved normally.

Game Variants

You can combine these variants as you wish in order to adapt the game to your needs:

Simple Relics

Ignore all the possible effects executed by the Relics. This variant is simpler and easier. Recommended to play with children.

Apprentices

All the Adventurers' skills are ignored: "Killer", "Shielded", "Charismatic" and "Sly". Only the effect of the "Trentis" is taken into account. This variant simplifies the game greatly and reduces the chaotic factor.

Hidden Treasures

The Relics obtained by each player are placed face down, that is, no player knows what relics each of them has, so the surprise and memorization factor is higher.

Tough Adventurers

Apply the Final Score corresponding to a 2-player game, that is, there is no elimination of players in the final count.

Teams

This variant is only possible in 4-player games. Make 2 teams of 2 players each. The players in the same team SHOULD BE SEATED SEPARATELY. Example: the players make 2 teams, A and B. They are seated alternately: A, B, A, B. It is played normally, but at the end of the game, each team adds all their Wound points and subtracts them from the total Wealth points obtained.

The team with the highest Wealth points wins the game. If the tie persists, the team with the most Relic cards wins. And if it persists, play another game!

Strategic Variant

No Adventurer cards are dealt to any player. During the game setup, place the Adventurer deck within reach of all players and reveal as many Adventurers as players minus 1 face-up.

Ex: In 4-player games, reveal 3 Adventurer cards. These are the available Adventurers that players can assign to the Relics, and they are called "the Adventurers supply".

In your turn: Choose one of the available Adventurers in the supply and assign it following the usual rules. Now it's the next player's turn. If there were no Adventurer cards left in the supply when choosing one, then reveal again as many Adventurers as the number of players minus 1, that is, replenish the Adventurers supply.

In 2-player games: 3 Adventurer cards are always revealed in the supply.

Achievements

• Clumsy: Finish the game without Relic cards.
• Destroyer: Remove an Orb from your Pouch with the "Destruction" Relic effect.
• Thief: Obtain an Orb from a rival with the "Theft" Relic effect.
• Swindler: Obtain an Orb through the "Exchange" Relic effect.
• Survivor: Obtain 10 wounds (or more) without being eliminated in the Final Score.
• Wealthy: Win the game with 8 or more Wealth points.
• Fortunate: Receive 2 Relic cards due to the "Gift" Relic effect.
• Sneaky: Win the game without Wounds.
• Alchemist: Finish the game with 3 Potions.
• Orb Hunter: Win the game with the 2 Orbs in your Pouch.