Return to Dark Tower: Covenant Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Setup
• Overview
• Monuments & Wastelands
  • Building Monuments
• Completed Monuments
• Wastelands
• Doom Skulls
• Treasures: Wands
• Blessings
• Heroes
  • Undaunted Aegis
  • Relentless Warden
  • Devious Swindler
  • Reverent Astromancer
• Spell & Invocation Clarifications
• Monuments: Clarifications

Components

• 4 hero boards
• 4 hero figures & bases
• 1 quarry token
• 12 virtue tiles
• 8 monuments
• 4 foundation tiles
• 12 offering tokens
• 32 wasteland tokens
• 8 monument cards
• 10 astromancer spell and invocation cards
• 6 protection tokens
• 12 doom skulls (plus extra)
• 20 treasure cards
• 12 corruption cards
• 8 blessing cards
• 10 charge tokens

Game Setup

Follow the base game setup with the following changes:

1. World Setup: During world setup, create separate supplies of the blessing cards, wasteland tokens, offering tokens, charge tokens, and doom skulls. Doom skulls and regular skulls should be kept in separate supplies.

2. Treasures: If you are using only the new treasures, shuffle them and make the treasure deck and market as normal. If you wish to combine them with the treasures from the base game, shuffle them together to make the treasure deck and use 4 cards for the market (instead of 3).

3. Corruptions: The new corruptions have more challenging effects than those from the base game. You can increase the difficulty of your game based on the number you shuffle into your corruption deck. For a more challenging game, you can use only the new corruptions from this expansion.

4. Monuments: The app will tell you which monuments to include for the game and the kingdoms they are assigned to. For each monument, remove the corresponding building from each kingdom, as indicated on the matching monument card, and return it to the box. Then, place a foundation tile in that building's space. Finally, place the monument and its monument card (offering-side up) near that kingdom.

   Note: You cannot place skulls on foundations, and they do not count as buildings. During setup, any skulls that would be placed on a building that was removed remain in the supply instead.

   Arch of the Golden Sun replaces a bazaar.

5. Heroes: Setup instructions for the new heroes are in their respective sections. If a hero starts the game in a kingdom with no citadel, place the hero as normal in the citadel space where the foundation tile is.

Overview

Covenant is an expansion for Return to Dark Tower that offers a new challenge to the cooperative game by introducing monuments, doom skulls, and wastelands. These elements must be used together when playing with the expansion and cannot be used with the guilds from the Alliances expansion.

This expansion also includes four new heroes, a hoard of new treasures, and new corruptions. These elements can be used in any combination and with the Alliances expansion.

Monuments & Wastelands

Monuments are grand structures that honor the gods of light. These structures start the game unbuilt, represented on the board by foundation tiles. Four monuments are used each game, one in each kingdom, replacing one of each building type.

Building a monument unlocks its powerful effects and slows the spread of wastelands on the board.

Building Monuments

Each monument has a unique condition that generates offerings, as indicated on its card. Whenever any hero meets the condition, regardless of which hero it is, which kingdom they are in, and whose turn it is, place an offering marker on the foundation. (A foundation tile can have a maximum of three offering tokens; do not place more if it already has three tokens.)

Once a foundation has three offering tokens, any hero can complete the monument by taking the Build action in the space with the foundation. Build is a new heroic action used solely to complete a monument. As with all heroic actions, you gain two spirit after completing the action.

When you build a monument, perform the following steps:

• indicate you have completed the monument in the app (go into the monument screen and hold the button to complete that monument)
• return the offering tokens to the supply
• remove the foundation tile from the game and place the matching monument in its space
• flip the monument card over to its completed side

Example: The Argent Oak foundation is in the Northern Kingdom. An offering marker is placed on it when any hero gains a corruption. It currently has two offerings on it.

You (Reverent Astromancer) are in the Southern Kingdom. You battle brigands and decide not to improve the first battle card revealed, taking a corruption in the process. This immediately adds the third offering to the foundation. Now, someone can use the Build action, on a future turn, to complete the monument.

Completed Monuments

A completed monument counts as a building of the type it replaces. For example, you could place a skull on the Moonstone Temple if an effect said to place a skull on a sanctuary.

The completed Moonstone Temple counts as a sanctuary.

Each monument can hold up to three skulls, just like buildings. If a monument would receive its fourth skull, it is destroyed, and the player whose home kingdom it is in gains a corruption as normal. A completed monument can also be destroyed by other effects, such as foe events or battle cards.

Note: The Endless Necropolis can hold any number of skulls. It is not destroyed when it receives a fourth skull.

When a monument is destroyed, remove the monument and all four skulls from the game. Also indicate the monument was destroyed in the app. (Go into the monument screen and hold the button for the corresponding monument to mark it as destroyed.)

Note: Remember, you cannot place skulls on foundations. Foundation tiles do not count as buildings.

Each completed monument has the free Reinforce effect of the building it replaced. It also has a new enhanced Reinforce effect, which replaces the normal enhanced effect of that building type. The completed side of the monument card describes the enhanced Reinforce effect and indicates the cost, if any, to trigger that effect. Reinforcing at a completed monument counts as a normal Reinforce action.

Additionally, each completed monument generates beneficial effects that will appear from time to time as an event.

Wastelands

Wastelands represent places in the world that have been blighted by the Tower. The app will tell you when and where to place wasteland tokens on the board.

A space with a wasteland token loses its terrain type. Wasteland spaces cannot gain a terrain type from other effects, such as siege trees. Additionally, when a hero enters a wasteland, they may not leave that space for the remainder of the turn, whether by regular movement or even by effects, such as a Potion of One Thousand Strides or the Colossus of Björn.

Wasteland tokens can only be removed by an effect that expressly removes them. Once a monument has been completed, spaces in that kingdom will no longer gain wasteland tokens.

Example: You (Devious Swindler) move from Cloudhold to the Muted Forest. You battle a widowmade spider but do not gain the benefit of your Champion of the West virtue (+2 Wild Advantages in Forests) because the forest is now a wasteland. After battling, the wasteland prevents you from continuing your movement.

Doom Skulls

Doom skulls are special black skulls. They are used along with the regular skulls from the base game (and do not replace them).

At various times, the app will trigger a "Creeping Doom" event. This event will instruct you to drop a certain number of doom skulls into the Tower. Resolve any skulls that tumble out of the Tower as normal by placing them on a building, including a completed monument, in the kingdom where they emerged.

Doom skulls may not be cleansed, removed, moved, or returned to the supply by any effect, such as a Potion of Purifying Breath. They count as regular skulls for other effects, such as a battle card that causes losses based on how many skulls are on or adjacent to your space. Doom skulls are removed from the game only when the building they are on is destroyed.

Note: The sensor in the Tower will turn off during the Creeping Doom event, meaning the game will not advance the turn counter or trigger additional events.

Example: You (Undaunted Aegis) have the Wand of Pacification, which currently has one charge token available. You spend the charge to trigger the wand's effect, allowing you to remove all skulls on or adjacent to your space. As a result, four normal skulls, total, are removed from the adjacent citadel and bazaar and returned to their supply. One doom skull on the citadel remains.

Treasures: Wands

Among the new treasure cards are a new type of treasure: wands. Wands use charge tokens. When you acquire a wand, it starts with a certain number of charges, as indicated on the card. Take that number of charge tokens from the supply and place them on the treasure card.

On your turn, you can use a wand by spending charges to trigger its effect, returning them from the card to the supply. You can gain additional charges, as indicated on the card. There is no limit to the number of charges a wand can hold; if you run out of charge tokens, use a proxy.

Blessings

Blessings are gained from various effects, such as the Reverent Astromancer's Bestow Blessing spell, the Azkol's Vambraces treasure, and the Moonstone Temple's event.

You can spend a blessing during a heroic action to gain a Wild Advantage. At the end of your turn, lose any blessings you have not spent. You cannot keep blessings to use on another turn.

Blessings are not items and cannot be traded. When a blessing is spent or lost, it is returned to the supply. The supply of blessings is limited; if it runs out, do not use a proxy.

8 new blessings (+1 Wild Advantage).

Heroes

There are four new playable heroes: Undaunted Aegis, Relentless Warden, Devious Swindler, and Reverent Astromancer. These new heroes can be used in any combination with the base game heroes or the Alliances expansion heroes in all modes of play.

Undaunted Aegis

The Undaunted Aegis may have up to three corruptions. This is indicated by the extra corruption slot on their hero board. During setup, when you gain your starting warriors and spirit, draw a random corruption from the corruption deck and place it on your hero board.

For the Ascetic starting virtue, gain a spirit immediately after confirming a battle card you spent no Advantages on. That spirit can be used to resolve subsequent cards in the same battle.

If you unlock the Resolute virtue, the cost to take any enhanced Reinforce action is reduced by one spirit for each corruption you have. If the Reinforce glyph is facing your home kingdom, you must still spend one spirit to take a Reinforce action.

The players lose if the Undaunted Aegis would ever gain a fourth corruption.

Relentless Warden

Take the quarry token at the start of the game. As your Banner action, you may assign the quarry token to any foe on the board, including the adversary, by placing it on that foe's token. That foe is now your quarry. If the quarry token is already on a foe when you take your Banner action, you may instead move your quarry up to two spaces.

You cannot move your quarry token to another foe until your quarry is removed from the board. If your quarry is defeated in battle or removed by any other effect, return the quarry token to your hero board; you may reassign it with your next Banner action.

If you unlock the Instinctive virtue, when a "Foe Strike" event occurs and your quarry token is on a foe of that type, you may remove the token, returning it to your hero board. If you do, ignore the event effects for that specific foe (including the adversary, if they were your quarry). You still resolve the event for any other foes of that type.

Devious Swindler

When you roll the haggle die for your Banner action, gain any result shown on the die. The canceling result has no effect. Additionally, you may always take your Reinforce action as normal, even if you roll a canceling result.

If you unlock the Inventive virtue, the Devious Swindler only gains regular Advantages (black background) in the treasure market. You may not use any conditional Advantages (gray background).

Transcriber's note: the printed text shows the canceling haggle face as a pictogram, which is not reproduced; it is written here as "canceling result", the haggle die face that cancels the Reinforce action in the base game.

Reverent Astromancer

The Reverent Astromancer has six spell cards, as well as four invocation cards. You start the game with your spells in hand but not your invocations; set the invocations aside during setup. Also, create a supply of protection tokens near your hero board.

With the Pious starting virtue, you prepare spells at the start of each month. Prepare a number of spells equal to the month number: one spell at the start of month one, two spells at the start of month two, and so forth. Choose which spells to prepare after the monthly quests are revealed but before the first player starts their turn.

To prepare a spell, take the spell card from your hand and place it face up near your hero board. When you are finished preparing spells, set aside any unprepared spells; you will not use them this month.

You may cast each prepared spell once during the month, at any time during your turn. When you cast a spell, resolve its effect and then return it to your hand of spell cards. Casting a spell is not an action. If you unlocked the Zealous virtue, you gain a blessing after resolving the spell's effect. You may not cast a spell if it would have no effect (for example, to solely gain the blessing from the Zealous virtue).

If you unlock the Exalted virtue, add the four invocation cards to your hand of spell cards. At the start of each future month, you may prepare and cast invocations like other spells. Casting an invocation counts as casting a spell for other effects.

You may not keep prepared spells or invocations from month to month. At the end of the month, always return any uncast spells or invocations to your hand.

Example: You (Reverent Astromancer) prepare two spells at the start of the second month, Aura of Friendship and Ritual of Warding. On one of your turns, you cast the Ritual of Warding spell to place a protection token, and then you return the spell to your hand. At the end of the month, Aura of Friendship remains uncast and is returned to your hand.

Example: At the beginning of the third month, you prepare three spells. During the previous month, you unlocked the Exalted virtue, allowing you to also prepare invocations. You choose to prepare Ritual of Warding and Bounty of the Gods, as well as an invocation, Commanding Rebuke.

Spell & Invocation Clarifications

Aura of Friendship: When you cast this spell, you can use the Reinforce effect of any building on the board when you take a Reinforce action. Pay any cost as normal. This effect includes any completed monuments (but excludes unbuilt ones).

Bounty of the Gods: When you cast this spell, shuffle the quest item cards. Look at three of them at random, choose one to gain, and return the other two to the deck. At the end of the turn, return the chosen item to the deck, if it has not yet been returned, even if another hero has it.

Ritual of Warding: When you cast this spell, place a protection token on your space. The next time a wasteland or foe would spawn on that space, the protection token prevents it. If a wasteland would spawn, do not place it. If a foe would spawn, do not place it; then, remove that foe in the app on the foe status screen. Afterward, remove the protection token and return it to your supply. (A protection token does not prevent the adversary from spawning.)

Smite the Wicked: When you cast this spell, remove a savage or lethal foe from anywhere on the board. After removing the foe token, remove that foe in the app on the foe status screen.

Soothing Word: When you cast this spell, one hero on your space takes a corruption from their board and places it on the bottom of the corruption deck. Then, they take the top card of the corruption deck and places it on their hero board. (This does not count as gaining a corruption for effects like the Argent Oak's offering requirement.)

Monuments: Clarifications

Arch of the Golden Sun

OFFERING: Place an offering on the foundation tile when you end your turn with two or more foes on or adjacent to your space. The foes do not have to be on the same space.

Argent Oak

OFFERING: Place an offering on the foundation tile when you gain a corruption. (You must gain the corruption through a game effect; you cannot simply take a corruption card.)

REINFORCE: For the enhanced Reinforce effect, you may choose to spend any number of items to remove that many corruptions from your hero. This means you can spend one item to remove one corruption or two items to remove two corruptions. In the case of the Undaunted Aegis, you can spend three items to remove three corruptions.

Cenotaph of the First Prophet

OFFERING: Place an offering on the foundation tile when you defeat a foe in a wasteland space with the Battle action. You may be in another space if an effect allows it, e.g. using the Oakstone Bow. Removing a foe in a wasteland space via another effect does not count for this offering.

REINFORCE: For the enhanced Reinforce effect, choose a virtue tile for any hero not in the game, remove one of your inactive virtue tiles from the game, and add the new virtue tile to your hero board with its active side up. Immediately gain the effects of that virtue.

Note: Some virtues will not offer any benefit. If a virtue refers to components your hero does not have (e.g., battlements or invocations), it has no effect.

Colossus of Björn

OFFERING: Place an offering on the foundation tile when you lose eight or more warriors from a battle card. If, for example, you had leather armor when a battle card said to lose eight warriors, you would need to forgo using the armor to meet the offering requirement. Similarly, if a card said to lose eight warriors and you only had six warriors to lose, you would not meet the offering requirement.

REINFORCE: For the enhanced Reinforce effect, you must place yourself and the monument on the same space. Keep any skulls on the monument when you move it.

Endless Necropolis

OFFERING: Place an offering on the foundation tile when you spend or lose a treasure. (You must spend or lose the treasure through a game effect; you cannot simply spend a treasure.)

SPECIAL EFFECT: This monument can hold any number of skulls. It is not destroyed when it gains more than three skulls. You cannot Cleanse to remove the skulls there.

REINFORCE: For the enhanced Reinforce effect, return any number of skulls to the supply. Since this is not a Cleanse action, you do not gain spirit for doing so.

Note: Doom skulls are not removed when you take this action. If this monument is destroyed as a result of some game effect, all the skulls on it are removed from the game.

Moonstone Temple

REINFORCE: For the enhanced Reinforce effect, you may Battle and Cleanse any number of times on the turn you pay the cost. After each of these heroic actions, gain two spirit, as normal.

Nightmare Cage

REINFORCE: For the enhanced Reinforce effect, you remove a foe. Use the foe status screen in the app to identify which foe you remove.

Tower Shard

OFFERING: Place an offering on the foundation tile when you defeat a foe that is adjacent to the Tower with the Battle action. You may be in another space if an effect allows it, e.g. using the Oakstone Bow. Removing a foe that is adjacent to the Tower via another effect does not count for this offering.