Shadows Over the Empire

Shadows Over the Empire Rulebook

Table of Contents

1. Components

8 Leader cards
2 Distinct Personality cards
58 Citizen cards
4 Player Aid cards
72 Player tokens
4 Faction tokens
25 Influence tokens (+1 spare)
1 Quiraa token
1 Starting Player token

2. Setup

The following setup should be used when playing the game for the first time. Experienced players may enrich the game with more advanced cards featuring more complex abilities (see "5. Advanced Play" for more details).

Separate the level A cards (level B and level C cards are used in "5. Advanced Play" and should be placed back in the box for now).
Each player chooses a level A Leader card and receives its Faction token and the 18 round tokens with the corresponding emblem. The round tokens form the player's pool that should be visible to his opponents.
Each player receives a Player Aid card.
Place the level A Distinct Personality card face up in the center of the table.
Players place their chosen Leader cards face up in the positions indicated on the setup diagram.
Place all Influence tokens on the table where all players can reach them.
Shuffle all level A Citizen cards and form the Citizen deck.
Randomly choose a starting player. That player receives the Starting Player token.
One by one (in player order) each player reveals the top card from the Citizen deck and places it face up on any of the 3 available slots adjacent to his leader.
- Important: If the revealed card does not have the Leader's Compulsory Trait (see "3. Character cards"), another card must be drawn until one that has it, is revealed.
Once each player's Leader card has 3 adjacent Character cards, place the remaining level A Citizen cards face down to complete the grid indicated on the setup diagram, based on the number of players.

Leaders (level A / level B), by faction:

Faction	Level A	Level B
Conclave of Law	Bonifatius	Pierre
Inquisition of Asmidan	Margayth	Ignacio
Queen's Court	Duchess Isabella	Genevieve
Order of the Coin	Ornatto	Master Coin

The setup diagrams depict the position each type of card should be placed based on the number of players (4-Player Setup, 3-Player Setup, 2-Player Setup).

All cards surrounding a card are considered adjacent to it.

3. Character cards

Card parts: Card Name, Card type, Influence token area (the area where the Influence token is placed), Ability Symbols (a brief description of the card's abilities), Traits, Compulsory Trait, Wild Trait, Ability, Card level.

Card type: Leader - Gold; Distinct Personality - Bronze; Citizen - Silver.
Compulsory Trait: The Trait a Character card must have in common with the Player's Leader in order to be Influenced.
Wild Trait: Each Leader has a Wild Trait. When a player Influences or Subdues a Character card, even if that card lacks the Leader's Wild Trait, they are still considered as if they have it in common.
Card level: A (Basic), B (Advanced), C (Expert).

Ability types

Use: A "Use" ability may be performed during a player's turn. The player must turn the Character card 90° and perform the ability. Once turned the Character card is considered "Rotated".
React: A "React" ability may be performed at the moment described on each Character card. The player must turn the Character card 90° and perform the ability. Once turned the Character card is considered "Rotated".
Passive: A "Passive" ability always remains in effect as long as the Character card is controlled by a player.

Traits

Lawful / Non-Lawful, Religious / Non-Religious, Noble / Non-Noble, Rich / Non-Rich.

4. Gameplay

4.1 Actions

Beginning with the starting player and continuing in a clockwise order, players take turns performing 1 action. This process is repeated until all players have chosen to pass at which point the Round ends. Each turn a player must choose one of the following actions:

a. Influence a Character card. b. Perform a Character card's ability. c. Pass.

a. Influence a Character card

By Influencing Character cards, a player can expand his control over the table gaining access to more abilities and options.

Important: A Character card is considered to be under a player's control as long as he is the only one with any tokens on it.

The player may have his Leader, or any other Character card under his control, perform this action. Each Character card may only Influence adjacent cards and may use the Influence action once per Round. The process works as follows:

First, place an Influence token on the instigating Character card as an indicator that it may not use the Influence action again this Round.
Next, the player adds to the Character card being influenced an amount of tokens equal to the Traits his Leader and that card have in common.
Finally, an Influence token should be added on the Influenced card if there were no player tokens already on it. Leader cards may not be Influenced.

A Character card may be Influenced multiple times during each Round and a player may even Influence a Character card he already controls.

Example: During the second Round, Sandra wants to use Qasim to Influence Raleigh. She adds an Influence token on Qasim and then adds 3 of her tokens on Raleigh, one for each Trait Raleigh has in common with her Leader (Genevieve). Finally, she adds an Influence token on Raleigh since he didn't already have any player tokens on him.

Important: A player may not choose to Influence a Character card which does not have his Leader's Compulsory Trait. Such Character cards are considered to be Diverging to that player.

Subdue: Several cards allow a player to Subdue a Character card. Subdue is similar to Influence with the difference that even Diverging Character cards may be targeted.

b. Perform a Character card's ability

Through this action, a player can perform the "Use" ability of a Character card he controls. Abilities may not target Leaders unless stated otherwise.

Important: A Character card that has already performed the Influence action may still perform its ability. A Character card that has already performed its ability (and is now "Rotated"), may not Influence this Round. Leader cards may still perform the Influence action, even if Rotated. Character cards with multiple "Use" abilities may only perform one of them each Round.

When a Character card's ability would add tokens on a card that didn't previously have any, an Influence token should be added on that card as well.

c. Pass

After choosing this action, the player may no longer perform actions during this Round.

4.2 Conflict

During a Round, a Character card may have tokens belonging to more than one player on it. That card is then considered as being "in a Conflict". When this occurs, the Character card is no longer considered as being controlled. None of the players with tokens on that card may use it to Influence or perform its abilities.

4.3 End of Round

The end of a Round is triggered once every player has chosen the Pass action. Check if a player has fulfilled any of the winning conditions (see "4.4 Winning the Game"). If not:

Each player removes 1 of his tokens from every Character card in a Conflict he participates in.
All Influence tokens are removed from the Character cards.
All Character cards are Reset (returned to their upright position).
Any face down Character cards adjacent to Character cards under a player's control must be turned face up.
The player with the most tokens remaining in his pool becomes the starting player and receives the Starting Player token. In the case of a tie, the current starting player chooses which of the tied players becomes the new starting player.

4.4 Winning the Game

To win the game, a player must have one of the following conditions fulfilled by the end of a Round (a. wins over b.):

a. A player has added his 18 tokens on Character cards and controls the Distinct Personality.

b. A player is the only one who has added his 18 tokens on Character cards and does not participate in any Conflicts.

4.5 Fine Points

a. Token shortage

If a player is required to add more tokens on a Character card than the ones remaining in his pool, the player must add as many tokens as possible instead (even none).

b. Multiple effect abilities

Several Character cards' abilities have effects with two parts. The two parts are separated by the word "Then". The player may perform the first part even if he is unable to perform the second part. However, the second part may only be performed if the first part has been performed.

c. Ability Priority

A player who performs a Character card's ability has priority regarding its effect. Then, resolution continues in a clockwise order.

d. Diverging

A Character card that does not have a Leader's Compulsory Trait is considered Diverging to that Leader's owner.

e. "Players" and "Opponents"

The term "players" refers to all players, while the term "opponents" refers to all other players.

f. Influence and Subdue token limit

When a player Influences or Subdues a Character card that already has some of his tokens on it, the amount of tokens he can add may not exceed the number of Traits that card and the player's Leader have in common. However, that limit may still be exceeded by Character card abilities that add or transfer tokens.

Example: Nikos wants to have Ignacio Influence Ramona. Ramona already has one of his tokens on her. Ramona has 3 Traits in common with Ignacio so Nikos would normally add 3 of his tokens on Ramona bringing her to a total of 4 tokens. However, he is not allowed to exceed the limit set by the number of Traits they have in common and so he only adds 2 tokens on her.

g. Distinct Personality

The Distinct Personality cannot be moved by any means.

h. Face down cards

Face down cards cannot be targeted by abilities.

5. Advanced Play

After playing the game with the basic setup a few times (using the level A cards), you may want to enrich the game with more advanced cards. Here are a few ways you can do that:

5.1 Raising Complexity

You can increase the average complexity of your games by adding some level B cards to the game. This should be done in groups of 4 cards.

Apart from the A, B, or C indication, each Citizen Character card also has a number varying from 1 to 4. This allows you to maintain balance when mixing cards from different levels.

In order to raise the complexity, remove 1 or 2 sets of 4 level A cards replacing them with equal sets of level B cards. Each set removed should contain 4 cards with different numbers (A1, A2, A3, A4). In the same fashion, each set added should contain 4 cards with different numbers (B1, B2, B3, B4).

There are a few cards that depict an asterisk instead of a number (B*). The asterisk can replace any card number. Example: B1, B2, B*, B4 or B*, B2, B3, B4 etc.

5.2 Advanced Setup

Experienced players may want to raise the game's complexity even more. In order to do so, the whole process described in "2. Setup" should be done using the level B cards instead. The level B Leaders and Distinct Personality should be used and level B Citizen cards should be filling all other slots.

5.3 Expert Level Cards

The game comes with some level C cards as well. These cards provide an even more advanced level of play. To use these cards, remove sets of cards from a level B setup maintaining balance as described in "5.1 Raising Complexity". For each B1, B2, B3, B4 set removed a C1, C2, C3, C4 set may be added.

5.4 Full Variety

Players also have the option of mixing cards from all 3 levels in their games. Before setup, a balanced pool of cards should be created. In the same way as in "5.1 Raising Complexity", players should add sets of 4 cards from any level they wish. The card pool may consist of any number of cards but should always contain an equal amount of 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s.

6. Ability Clarifications

Bonifatius the Sage: You may choose to remove tokens.
Tristan the Messenger: If there is a tie for the least unused tokens, remove tokens from all tied players.
Duchess Isabella the Imperial Governess: Even if you don't have any token to add, you may still cancel the action targeting the Distinct Personality card.
Arasia the Mediator: If two or more players are tied for having the fewest tokens on the chosen Character card, the tokens of all those players must remain on the card.
Pierre the Judge: If your opponent does not have 2 tokens to remove from that Conflict, he must still remove 1. In this case, your token is not removed.
Kenneth the Heroic Outlaw: You may Swap with an uncontrolled Rich Character card, without discarding any tokens from Kenneth.
Sadora the Madam: The direct line chosen may include Character cards you control or Character cards with no tokens on them. Such cards are unaffected by Sadora's ability.
Quiraa the Spymistress: If the controller of the targeted card chooses not to remove his tokens from it, place the Quiraa token on the chosen card as a reminder. Remove it at the end of the Round.

7. Symbols

Use: Turn the Character card 90º and perform the indicated ability.
React: Turn the Character card 90º and perform the indicated ability (at the moment described on each card).
Passive: This ability always remains in effect.
Influence: Add 1 token on a Character card for every Trait it has in common with your Leader.
Subdue: Add 1 token on a Character card for every Trait it has in common with your Leader even if they do not share the Compulsory Trait.
Rotate: Turn the Character card 90º without performing any ability.
Reset: Return the Character card to its upright position.
Swap: Exchange position between two Character cards.
Conflict: The state a Character card goes into when two or more players place tokens on it.
Add Token: Place tokens on a Character card.
Remove Token: Remove tokens from a Character card.