Plethora

Plethora Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

3 Nobles
4 Player Pawns (green, red, blue, orange)
12 Pearl
12 Amber
12 Sapphire
30 Gold
50 Silver
3 Dice
2 Gemstone Boards
9 Frame Pieces
19 City Tiles
4 Player Boards
18 Nobility Cards
72 Commission Cards

Aim of the Game

The aim is to have the most nobility points at the game's end. Players buy nobility cards using gold, which is gained by completing commissions for the city's nobles.

When players visit any of the 3 nobles they are given a rendezvous destination, where they can receive a commission. A commission involves traveling to 1 or more locations and using silver to buy pearl, amber or sapphire gemstones. After delivering the gemstones, they are rewarded with silver (useful for completing further commissions) and gold (for buying nobility cards). The game ends when only 2 nobility cards remain.

Setup

To set up Plethora, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Place gemstone board/s (see white icons):
- 2 Players: use just 1 board.
- 3/4 Players: use both boards.
Place pearl, amber and sapphire on each space of gemstone board/s.
Place silver and gold in separate supplies.
Arrange the 9 frame pieces as shown.
Set aside the Goldsmith tile. Shuffle the remaining 18 tiles. Place tiles randomly within frame. Leave 1 space free in the centre. Place the Goldsmith tile here.
Shuffle nobility cards. Discard 6 at random. Place these back into the game box. Place the 12 remaining cards numerically alongside each of the wall's "keeps".
- Sort using yellow numbers (lowest nobility card to lowest keep / highest nobility card to highest keep).
- Use red numbers to sort cards of equal value.
Shuffle commission cards. Place alongside playing area with room for discard pile.
Draw top 3 commission cards. Place 1 noble on each card's tile. More than 1 noble may be placed on the same tile. Discard these cards.
Draw a further 2-4 cards (equal to players in game). Place 3 silver on each card's tile. Discard these cards.
Each player takes 1 board of their chosen colour and 5 silver from the supply. Players place their pawns on the Goldsmith tile.
Determine a starting player. They receive the 3 dice.

Playing The Game

From the starting player, each player takes their turn in full. A number of actions are available each turn. Some are governed by players' dice rolls, others by their location in the city.

On their turn, each player:

Rolls all 3 dice.
Takes dice actions and any other location-specific actions.

Using Dice

Each player starts their turn by rolling all 3 dice. These offer various actions which can be carried out in any order.

Red arrow symbol: This allows players to move their pawn 1 space to an adjacent tile.
Blue double-arrow symbol: This allows players to move their pawn up to 2 spaces between adjacent tiles. Moving 2 spaces must be done simultaneously. Players cannot move 1 space, take a separate action, then move the second space.
Green gemstone symbol: This allows players to make 1 purchase from the Harbour (pearl), Mining Camp (amber), or Quarry (sapphire). Players must be at one of these 3 locations to use this action. Alternatively, this may also allow players to move any amount of 1 gemstone type between 2 of their bags (on their player boards).
Black figure symbol: This allows players to make 1 of 3 actions: move 1 space to an adjacent tile / make 1 purchase / pick-up silver from their current tile.
Two dice: At any point in their turn, players may forfeit the use of 2 dice for 1 silver from the supply. If the silver supply has run out, players cannot use this action.
Three dice: At any point in their turn, players may forfeit the use of all 3 dice for 1 of 3 actions: move 1 space to an adjacent tile / make 1 purchase / pick-up silver from their current tile.

Players cannot choose to re-roll dice. Players do not have to use all their dice actions. Dice actions can be used at any point in player's turns.

Dice actions:

Movement
Purchase gemstones (see "Purchasing Gemstones" below)
Move gemstones
Pick-up silver
Receive 1 silver from supply

Other Player Actions

Apart from dice actions, there are 5 other actions available to players on their turn. These are all specific to their location in the city. These are:

Receiving a rendezvous / Receiving a commission / Finishing a commission / Selling gold for silver / Purchasing a nobility card

Location-specific actions:

When on same tile as a noble: Receive a rendezvous; Purchase a nobility card.
When at rendezvous location: Receive a commission.
When at commission location: Finish a commission.
When at Goldsmith: Sell 1 gold for up to 8 silver.

Receiving A Rendezvous

When players are on the same tile as any of the 3 nobles, they can receive a rendezvous. To do so, they draw the top 2 cards from the commission card draw pile. At this stage, players should ignore the top half of the cards. Only the card's locations are important.

What is a rendezvous? To receive a commission, players must first reach a rendezvous location. Players receive rendezvous from 1 of the city's 3 nobles.

Pay silver

When receiving a rendezvous, players may need to pay silver. The cost is 1 silver per commission card on the current player's board. This should be paid to the supply before drawing any cards.

Choose a rendezvous

Players choose to keep 1 card as their rendezvous. This is placed under 1 of their 2 rendezvous spaces on their board.

Move the noble

The unwanted card indicates where the noble will move to. Discard the card and move the noble (from player's current tile) to the card's location in the city.

Players can only ever hold up to 2 rendezvous cards at a time. Rendezvous cards can only be removed from player's boards by reaching the location and receiving a commission.

Receiving a rendezvous:

Pay 1 silver per commission card on the current player's board.
Draw 2 cards.
Keep 1 card as rendezvous.
Move noble to other card's location and discard.

Example

Green is at the same tile as a noble.
They must first pay 1 silver to the supply, as they currently have 1 commission in play.
They draw 2 cards: Lake and Tannery.
Green chooses to keep the Tannery as their rendezvous, placing it under their board.
The noble is moved to the Lake tile in the city.
The Lake card is discarded.

A Noble Path

"It all starts and ends with the nobles."

Travel to a noble, receive a rendezvous. Travel to the rendezvous location, receive a commission. Complete the commission, receive gold. Return to a noble, purchase nobility.

Receiving A Commission

When players are on the same tile as 1 of their rendezvous card locations, they can receive a commission. To do so, they should first discard the rendezvous card in question. They then draw the top 3 cards from the commission card draw pile. Unlike when receiving a rendezvous, players should now focus on the card's entire contents.

What is a commission? To receive the gold needed to purchase nobility cards, players must complete commissions. On receiving a commission, players will need to use their silver to purchase gemstones and deliver them to the specified location.

Choose a commission

Players choose to keep 1 card as their commission. This is placed above 1 of 3 commission spaces on their board.

Place silver

Players now choose 1 of the 2 remaining cards to receive 3 silver from the supply. This is placed on the corresponding tile in the city. Both these cards are discarded. If the silver supply has run out, players only place as many silver as there are possible.

Players may only hold up to 3 commissions at any time.

Receiving a commission:

Discard rendezvous card.
Draw 3 cards.
Keep 1 card as commission.
Place 3 silver on 1 of 2 remaining card's tiles.
Discard both cards.

Further notes

If players have 2 rendezvous cards of the same location, and want to draw 2 sets of commission cards in the same turn, they must do this as 2 separate actions.

Example

Green has reached the Tannery.
They discard their Tannery rendezvous card.
They draw 3 cards: Blacksmith, Mill and Apothecary.
They choose to keep the Mill commission, placing in the next free commission space on their board.
They choose to place 3 silver from the supply on the Blacksmith, and discard the card.
They discard the Apothecary card without action.

Purchasing Gemstones

In Plethora players will need to purchase gemstones to complete commissions. These are found at 3 locations along the edge of the city:

Harbour (pearl)
Mining Camp (amber)
Quarry (sapphire)

When can players purchase gemstones? To buy 1 or more gemstones, players must first meet 3 requirements. They must:

Have a commission allowing purchase.
Be at Harbour, Mining Camp or Quarry.
Roll the required dice to purchase gemstones.

Pay silver

The cost of each gemstone is shown in the left column on the gemstone board/s. This is paid to the main silver supply.

Collect gemstones

Players should always purchase the lowest (cheapest) available gemstones on the gemstone board/s. After paying for their desired gemstones, they are removed from the gemstone purchase board/s and placed in 1 or more bags on the current player's board. Players can only place gemstones in a bag with a commission requiring that particular gemstone. Players can never hold more gemstones than required by a commission.

Purchasing gemstones:

Pay required silver.
Place gemstones on player board.

Purchase limit

Players are limited to purchasing a variable number of gemstones each turn. There are 2 variables that can affect this:

Dice rolled: Any dice rolled with either of these 2 symbols (green gemstone symbol or black figure symbol) allows 1 purchase. Therefore players can make up to a maximum of 3 separate purchases each turn.
Top commission card: The top card on the commission card draw pile shows how many of each gemstone players may purchase per dice rolled.

How many gemstones can players purchase?

1 purchase per dice rolled.
Gemstones available per purchase shown on top of commission card draw pile.

Example

Green is at the Harbour. Their dice roll allows them to make 2 separate purchases.
The current top-most commission card allows them to purchase 1 pearl per dice rolled.
The first pearl will cost 1 silver. The second will cost 2.
They pay a total of 3 silver to the supply.
The 2 pearl are placed in the bag under the commission of their choice.

Finishing A Commission

When players have collected all the gemstones for a particular commission, they can deliver them to the commission card's location in the city. After doing so, they receive gold and silver from the supply.

Discard commission

On reaching a commission's location in the city, players should declare to opponents of their success. After doing so, the commission card is discarded from their board.

Return gemstones

All gemstones associated with the commission should be placed back on the gemstone board/s. These are to be placed from the top-most free space, down (filling the more expensive spaces first).

Receive reward

Any gold and silver awarded from the completed commission is taken from the supply and placed alongside player's boards. If the gold or silver supplies have run out, players may only take as many gold and silver as there are available.

How many gold and silver does each commission reward? This varies depending on the scale of the commission. Rewards range from 5 gold and no silver, to 1 gold and 4 silver.

Finishing a commission:

Discard commission card.
Return gemstones to gemstone board/s.
Receive gold and silver from supplies.

Example

Green is at the Library.
They have all the required gemstones for their Library commission.
They discard their Library card.
All related gemstones are returned to the gemstone board.
They receive 4 gold and 1 silver from the supply.

Gold and Silver limits

At no point during the game can players hold more than 8 silver.
There is no limit to how many gold players may hold.

Selling Gold For Silver

When at the Goldsmith, players may sell 1 gold for up to 8 silver.

Players can only ever hold up to 8 silver.

Purchasing A Nobility Card

When players are on the same tile as any of the 3 nobles, they can purchase a nobility card.

Pay required gold

The gold price per card is shown on the 'keeps' aligned to each nobility card. Gold is paid to the gold supply.

Receive nobility card

Purchased cards are placed face-down alongside player's boards. Players may only look at their own nobility cards throughout the game.

Example

Green is at the same tile as a noble.
They want the number "7" nobility card.
They pay 3 gold to the supply.
They receive the nobility card.

Nobility card icons (shown at the bottom left of some cards):

Three random gemstone icons: "This card requires any 3 random gemstones."
Pearl, amber and sapphire icons: "This card requires 1 of each gemstone type."

Scoring Nobility Cards

Each nobility card has a set value and a variable value.

The yellow number is the set value. This is guaranteed at the game's end.
The red number is the variable value. This is a bonus nobility available to players.
The item/s at the bottom left show what players can sell at the game's end for the bonus nobility.
The black multiplier at the bottom centre governs how many times players may claim the bonus.

Example

This card guarantees a player 6 nobility.
It also entitles them to sell 1 amber for 1 bonus nobility at the game's end.
They can do this up to 3 times.
Total possible nobility of this card is 9 (6 set / max. 3 bonus).

Ending The Game

The game ends at the completion of the current player's turn where there are only 2 nobility cards left in play.

The winner

The player with the most nobility (set + bonus) is the winner.

If tied, the player with the most unused gold is the winner.
If still tied, the player with the most unused silver is the winner.

Scoring nobility cards at game end

At the game's end, each player reveals their nobility cards face-up. They can then sell any unused gold, silver or gemstones using their nobility cards. Each player's score is a total of their set nobility, and any bonus nobility they have purchased.