Pixel Demon's Realm Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Setup
  • Shared Area Setup
  • Personal Area Setup
    • Personal Demons
    • Pact Cards
    • Quick Reference Cards
    • Starting Hand
• How to Win
• Sequence of a Turn
  • Step 1 - Draw
  • Step 2 - Perform Actions (Act)
    • Purge
  • Step 3 - End Your Turn (Reset)
• Binding a Demon
  • Active Demon
  • Personal Demon
  • Ritual Requirements
• Ritual Cards
  • Performing the Binding Ritual
  • Aces
  • Demon Card Back
  • Curses
• Releasing a Demon
• Realm Wardens
  • Seekers
  • Keepers
  • Eaters
• Vessels
• Disrupting a Binding
  • Exorcising a Vessel
  • Eater Disruption
• The Mimics
• Afflictions
• Traditional 52-Card Games
• Rules FAQ

Components

• 54 Ritual Cards
• 19 Demon Cards
• 12 Affliction Cards
• 8 Vessel Cards
• 8 Pact Cards
• 4 Quick Reference Cards
• 1 Portal Card
• 1 Thank You Card

Overview

The play area is divided between one common Shared Area and multiple identical Personal Areas, one for each person. (Realm can be played with 2-4 players, or visit the website to download a single player variant.)

Let's look at the overall table layout:

Sample 4 Person Layout (diagram)

If you'd prefer to watch a quick video explaining how to play, or to discover bonus content, visit www.PixelDemon.org/Realm.

Setup

Shared Area Setup

First we will set up the Shared Area that exists in the middle of the table.

Gather all the Demon Cards and shuffle them together to create the Demon Deck. Place the deck face-down (with the text side facing up) on the table. Then, turn the top Demon Card face up with its image visible. This is the first Active Demon of the game. (You may use ALL the Demon cards you own, not just the 22 that come with the base game.)

Demon Cards x19

Place the Portal Card underneath the Active Demon (which is the top card of the Demon Deck). This card acts as a shield to conceal the details of the next Demon as you reveal future Demons during the game.

Portal Card x1

Next, gather the Ritual Cards. Shuffle them together and place them face-down to the right of the Demon Deck to create the Ritual Deck.

Ritual Cards x54

Ritual Cards include the Ace through 10 of each main suit: Daggers, Virgins, Skulls, and Candles. The Aces have unique images compared to the other ranks.

The Ritual Deck also includes the Wardens and Mimic cards. These are akin to the Jacks, Queens, Kings and Jokers in a traditional deck. (Their unique powers will be explained later.)

Gather the 8 Vessel Cards and place them in a single face-down stack to the left of the Demon Deck to form the Vessels Stack. All Vessel cards act the same way. (Vessels will be explained in more detail later.)

Vessel Cards x8

Personal Area Setup

Now that the Shared Area has been set up, let's have each person set up their Personal Area.

Personal Demons

Fate must ordain a Personal Demon for each person at the table. Everyone takes a card from the bottom of the Demon Deck and places it in front of them face up (with the Demon image showing) as their Personal Demon.

Important: Do not look at the back of your Personal Demon Card yet.

Only you may bind your Personal Demon, not your opponents. (Binding Demons will be explained later.)

Pact Cards

If this is your first time playing, we recommend using the (double-sided) Acolyte Pact. Place it near the center of the table for all to see. The first person to complete its condition wins. When you feel you have a better grasp of the game, you may ignore the Acolyte Pact. Instead, shuffle the other Pact Cards together and spread them out face down on the table. Each person should select the Pact card that calls to them and place it face down in front of them.

You may examine your Pact Card at any time, but keep it hidden from your opponents! Set aside the remaining Pact Cards without looking at them; they will not be used for the rest of the game.

Remember your Pact defines your unique method of attaining victory.

Quick Reference Cards

Quick Ref Cards x4

Give everyone a Quick Reference card. This card contains a summary of important game rules.

Starting Hand

Deal 5 cards from the top of the Ritual Deck face down to each person. This is their starting hand.

When you're ready to play, randomly determine someone to go first.

How to Win

For a quicker game, you may use the Acolyte Pact as everyone's shared win condition by placing it in the middle of the table for all to see. (Double sided)

If you are not using the Acolyte Pact, begin by examining your Pact Card without letting anyone else know what it is. Your Pact will dictate a unique ambition for you, a secret objective that you must achieve in order to win the game.

When you complete your Pact's goal, immediately announce to everyone that you have done so. Reveal your Pact for all to see, and savor your diabolical victory!

Sequence of a Turn

Turns are divided into 3 steps:

1. Draw
2. Act
3. Reset

Step 1 - Draw

At the start of your turn, draw a card from the Ritual Deck. Then, if you have fewer than 6 cards in your hand, keep drawing until you have 6.

(You must always draw at least 1 card.)

Step 2 - Perform Actions (Act)

There are several types of Actions you can perform on your turn. They can be performed in any order, and there is no limit to the number of actions or cards that can be used in a single turn.

Actions you may take on your turn are as follows:

• Bind a Demon
• Release a Demon bound to you
• Summon a Vessel
• Play a Realm Warden from your hand for its effect (Eater, Seeker, or Keeper cards)
• Feed an Eater attached to a Demon
• Play a Mimic from your hand

(These actions will all be described in greater detail in sections to follow.)

Purge

If you take no actions on your turn, you may choose to Purge instead. Do this by discarding your entire hand, then drawing that many cards. Your turn immediately ends. (You must still reset your hand to 5 cards, as described in the next section.)

Step 3 - End Your Turn (Reset)

Declare to everyone that you are ending your turn and follow these steps:

• First, make sure you reset your hand to 5 cards.
  • Either draw cards from the Ritual Deck or discard cards from your hand until you have a hand of exactly 5.
• Then, reset the Demons in any empty Demon Card locations.
  • If your Personal Demon area is empty, take the Demon Card below the Portal Card and place it face-up in your Personal Area as your new Personal Demon.
  • If the Portal Card is on top of the Demon Deck (because the Active Demon was bound), take the Demon Card below it and flip it face up on top of the Demon Deck. It becomes the new Active Demon.

After these steps have been completed, your turn is over and play passes clockwise to the next person.

A simple phrase to help you remember what to do is: "Draw. Act. Reset."

Binding a Demon

In order to achieve the goals of your Pact and win the game, you will typically need to bind multiple Demons to you over the course of several turns. But binding a Demon is no trivial task…

Active Demon

The Active Demon is the Demon currently on top of the Demon Deck. Anyone may attempt to bind this Demon on their turn.

Personal Demon

The Personal Demon in your Personal Area can be bound in the same way as the Active Demon, but only you can attempt to bind your Personal Demon.

Ritual Requirements

Each Demon has its own unique ritual requirements for binding. On each of the 4 corners on the front side of the Demon Card, you will see a symbol or a number.

These markings indicate the ritual requirements needed to successfully bind the Demon to you.

To fulfill these requirements, you will need to collect Ritual Cards.

Ritual Cards

Ritual Cards are composed of 2 important elements, visible in the card's upper-left and bottom-right corners: a suit (symbol) and a rank (number or letter).

In the center of the card is a large illustration of its suit. There are 4 different suits: Daggers, Virgins, Skulls and Candles.

There are 13 ranks in total:

• 9 standard numeric ranks - 2 through 10
• 1 "wild" rank - The Ace
• 3 unique ranks - The Realm Wardens
  • The Eater
  • The Seeker
  • The Keeper

(Realm Wardens will be described in detail later.)

Ritual Cards are drawn from the shared Ritual Deck. When Ritual Cards are played or discarded from your hand, they are put face up in the Discard Pile.

If the Ritual Deck ever runs out of cards, simply shuffle all the cards in the Discard Pile and place them face down as the new Ritual Deck.

Performing the Binding Ritual

Perform the ritual of binding a Demon by playing cards from your hand matching each symbol shown on the front corners of the Demon Card. A Ritual Card can match a single suit, a single rank, or both a suit and rank.

For example, if one of the Demon's symbols is a Dagger, you may meet that requirement by playing any Dagger card, regardless of its rank.

If one of the Demon's symbols is a 2, you can play a 2 of any suit (Daggers, Virgins, Skulls or Candles).

However, if you have the 2 of Daggers, you can use that card to meet the requirements of both the Dagger and 2, using just a single card. Therefore, you do not need to play 4 separate cards to meet all 4 requirements.

The ritual is a culmination of elements used in a single moment. You must play all the required cards on the same turn to successfully perform the binding ritual.

After you've played the cards required to successfully bind the Demon, put the Ritual Cards you used into the discard pile face-up. Take the newly bound Demon and flip it face-down in front of you. The Demon's secrets are now revealed to all.

Aces

Aces have a special ability when played during a binding ritual: they can become any numeric rank (2-10) that you choose. (Their suit doesn't change.) This makes them very useful for binding Demons.

Demon Card Back

The back of a Demon Card displays several things:

1. The Demon's name and title.
2. The Demon's lore or background.
3. The Demon's unique Curse power.
4. Information for collectors, like the print edition in the lower-left and series number in the lower-right.

Curses

When you bind a Demon to you, its Curse power takes effect. You must read the Curse text aloud and follow its commands.

There are two types of Curses. Some are one-time powers that immediately impact the game. Others are lasting conditions that will influence you for as long as the Demon remains bound to you. Lasting curses will have two hourglass symbols beside their name to indicate an "ongoing" effect.

Releasing a Demon

On your turn, you may choose to release any Demons that are bound to you. Simply take the bound Demon from in front of you and move it to the bottom of the Demon Deck. It no longer counts toward your win condition and acts as though it was never bound to you. (Any ongoing curse it placed on you is no longer in effect).

After releasing the Demon, draw 3 cards from the Ritual Deck as your reward for having released such a merciless hellion into the world.

Realm Wardens

The Wardens are entities which exist between our world and the Realm, peering into its darkness, harnessing its evil and devouring its essence. Few enter the Realm without first encountering these heralds of twilight.

The Realm Wardens are akin to the 3 face cards you would normally see in a traditional 52-card deck: Queens, Kings and Jacks. In Realm, these cards are Seekers, Keepers, and Eaters, and they each have a unique effect when played from your hand. (They can also be played to satisfy certain card requirements, such as the suit requirements to bind a Demon, instead of being used for their special power.)

Seekers

When you play a Seeker, choose an opponent and then name a suit. That person shows you their hand and you must select a card from it, of rank Ace through 10 of the named suit, to take and put into your hand. Place the Seeker in the discard pile. If no cards of the chosen type were revealed, draw a card from the Ritual Deck.

Keepers

When you play a Keeper, choose an opponent and then choose "odd" or "even". That person shows you their hand and you must select a card of the chosen type to take and put into your hand. Place the Keeper in the discard pile. If no cards of the chosen type were revealed, draw a card from the Ritual Deck.

Eaters

When you play an Eater, attach it to any unbound Demon by placing it next to that card. Demons with Eaters attached cannot be bound.

Anyone can remove an attached Eater by "feeding" it a card matching the Eater's suit, on their turn. Indicate which Eater you are feeding and play the matching Ritual Card, then put both cards into the Discard Pile. This is a special action you may only perform while there is an Eater attached to a Demon.

There is no limit to the number of Eaters that can be placed on a single Demon. (Eaters can only be fed with Ritual Cards, not Vessels.)

Eaters can also be played during an opponent's turn to disrupt their attempt to bind a Demon. (Disrupting a binding is described in detail starting on page 31.)

Vessels

Vessel cards represent the ultimate summoning tool, a host body for the Demon to bind itself to. While in your hand, Vessels have no suit or rank. When played as part of a binding ritual, they become any suit and numeric rank (2-10) you choose, providing more flexibility than even an Ace. You must choose both a suit and numeric rank when playing the Vessel. You may not change your choice after it has been declared. (Vessels only gain a suit and rank during binding rituals. They can't be used to feed Eaters or interact with other Vessels.)

You can summon a Vessel by playing Ritual Cards that are 3-of-a-kind from your hand. This can be 3 cards of the same suit or 3 of the same rank. Put the Ritual Cards used to summon the Vessel into the Discard Pile, and put a Vessel (from the Vessel Stack) into your hand.

Vessel cards never go into the Discard Pile and are always returned to the Vessel Stack, instead.

The power of Vessels comes at a cost. When you attempt to bind a Demon using one or more Vessels, an opponent may disrupt the binding by playing specific cards from their hand. (See the next section entitled "Disrupting a Binding" for more detail.)

Disrupting a Binding

When someone announces the Demon they are attempting to bind, and reveals all of the necessary Ritual Cards, everyone else is then given an opportunity to disrupt that binding, in a specific order.

There are 2 distinct methods for disrupting a binding:

1. Exorcising a Vessel
2. Eater Disruption

Exorcising a Vessel

Using Vessels is a risky proposition. If you use a Vessel to fulfill part of a Demon's binding requirements, the person directly to your left has a special opportunity to disrupt your ritual. They may do this by playing a Ritual Card from their hand that matches your Vessel's declared rank to exorcise it.

If the Vessel is exorcised in this way, the binding ritual fails and your turn immediately ends. Discard the Vessel into the Vessel Stack and return the other cards used in the failed ritual to your hand. The card your opponent used to exorcise the Vessel is put into the discard pile.

Vessels and Aces typically cannot be used to exorcise a Vessel, since they only gain a chosen numeric rank when used in a binding ritual.

If there are multiple Vessels being used in the binding, a person may choose to exorcise any one of them. (Only a single Vessel may be exorcised per binding.)

Eater Disruption

If you do not use a Vessel in the binding ritual, or if you use a Vessel and it is not exorcised, the person to your immediate left is then given an opportunity to disrupt the binding using an Eater. They may play an Eater from their hand and immediately attach it to the Demon you are attempting to bind.

All Eaters will need to be removed before the binding ritual can proceed. If you cannot immediately feed the Eater with a Ritual Card of the matching suit from your hand, the binding is disrupted. When this happens, the Demon remains unbound (it doesn't move), the Eater remains attached to it, the cards used in the failed ritual are returned to your hand, and your turn ends (you must immediately reset your hand). The turn then passes clockwise to the next person.

If the Eater is immediately fed, the same opponent is given another chance to play an Eater. If they are ever unable to play an Eater, or choose not to, the opportunity to play Eaters then passes clockwise to the next person. This continues until someone successfully disrupts the ritual or until each person has passed on this opportunity and the Demon becomes bound.

The Mimics

When you play a Mimic Card, choose an opponent. The chosen person shows you their hand and you must select a non-Vessel card to take and put into your hand. Place the Mimic in the discard pile.

Mimic Cards do not have a suit. Therefore, they cannot be used to pay binding requirements, feed Eaters, or summon Vessels.

Afflictions

Afflictions x12 (Optional)

For a more chaotic and social variant of Realm, we recommend using the Affliction Cards. These Affliction effects can modify a person's speech or behavior in truly unusual (and amusing) ways. Before playing, it is recommended that you agree upon a "house rule" for what penalty will be administered to anyone who violates the demands of their Affliction.

To distribute the Affliction Cards, shuffle them together and place them in a face-down pile on the table. Designate a random person to draw 2 Affliction Cards. After looking at them, they must choose another person without an Affliction to receive 1 of the 2 cards, discarding the other. The person receiving the Affliction places it face up on the table for all to see. Then, that person draws 2 new Affliction cards to choose from, giving one of them to someone else. This process repeats until everyone has received an Affliction.

Some Demon curses relate only to Affliction Cards (as denoted by a small plague doctor symbol in the upper-left corner on the back of the card.) If you aren't playing with Afflictions, you may choose not to play with these Demons. If you still do, their curses may have no effect.

Traditional 52-Card Games

By themselves, the Ritual Cards in Realm can be used as a replacement for a traditional 52-card deck! The unique themes from Realm convert to playing cards in the following way:

• Daggers = Spades
• Virgins = Hearts
• Skulls = Clubs
• Candles = Diamonds
• Eaters = Jacks
• Seekers = Queens
• Keepers = Kings
• Mimics = Jokers

Rules FAQ

The Master Rule - Whenever a card's text contradicts the rules in this book, the card takes precedence.

Public Information - You may not intentionally hide information from opponents about the number of cards in your hand, the number of Vessels in your hand, your bound Demons, your Personal Demon, or your Affliction.

Curse Combinations - In some rare cases, Demon curses will have effects that interact. Here is an example and how to resolve it:

• Demon Curse 1 = "Your Skulls are all 8's"
• Demon Curse 2 = "Your 8's are all 3's"
• Demon Curse 3 = "You cannot play 3's"
• Resolution = "Your Skulls are all 3's, therefore, you may not play Skulls."

Curses and Your Hand - When looking at another person's hand, such as with a Keeper, Seeker, or Mimic, the cards are their printed suit and rank. Do not factor in any curse effects.

Drawing Cards - Whenever a card or effect tells you to draw a card, this is done from the Ritual Deck unless otherwise specified.

Discarding Vessels - Discarded or played Vessels are returned to the Vessel Stack, not the discard pile.

Even or Odd - Realm Wardens, Aces, and Mimics are considered neither even nor odd.

Pact Demands - You may fulfill a Pact by exceeding its demands, i.e. using 4 Virgins to fulfill Lust.