Shamans Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Concept and Goal of the Game
• Components
• Setup
• Round Setup
• A Turn of Play
• Resolving Cards
• The Eclipse Tile's Effect
• Artifact Tiles' Effects
• Ritual Effects
• Effects of Elimination
• End of the Round or the Game
• Example: Resolving a Turn
• Credits

Concept and Goal of the Game

Shamans is a trick-taking game that lasts a variable number of rounds. Each round represents a lunar cycle, during which Shamans and Shadows face off. Each round, the players will be divided secretly and randomly between the two teams, Shamans and Shadows. Indeed, this means that the teams change from round to round.

Contents:

• 1 board

• 1 pawn

• 14 tiles

• 61 cards

• 42 tokens

• The Shamans win the round if they either manage to eliminate all Shadows, or if the Shadow pawn did not reach the end of its track when players have played all their cards.

• The Shadows win the round, and 3 points each, if the Shadow pawn reaches the Moon on the final space of its track.

Players score points when they are on the winning team, and through several effects. The player who has the most victory points at the end of the game will be declared the winner.

Components

• 1 central board depicting the 7 Spirit Worlds and the Shadow track.
• 12 Artifact tiles:
  • 5 Ritual Daggers
  • 2 Portals
  • 3 Moon Shards
  • 2 Masks of Truth (each tile has a back and a front)
• 1 Shadow pawn
• 1 First Player marker
• 1 Eclipse tile
• 42 victory point tokens
• 61 cards:
  • 5 Role cards (2 Shadows, 3 Shamans)
  • 56 World cards, in 7 colors, numbered 1-8 (back and front)

Setup

• Place the board (A) in the middle of the table.
• Sort the cards according to the player count:

Role cards	Shaman cards	Shadow cards	World card colors	World card values
3 players	2	1	The 5 at the bottom of the board.	Numbers 1-6 (30 cards)
4 players	3 (all)	1	The 5 at the bottom of the board + Brown (marked "4+").	Numbers 1-6 (36 cards)
5 players	3 (all)	2 (all)	All of the Worlds, including Red (marked "5").	Numbers 1-8 (all 56 cards)

• In a 3- or 4-player game, return the unused cards to the box.
• Place the victory point tokens near the board (B).
• Give the First Player marker (C) to the oldest player.

Round Setup

1. Place the Shadow pawn (D) on the Time track on the board, on the starting space corresponding to the player count.
2. Shuffle the 12 Artifact tiles face down; reveal 2, and place them on the 2 corresponding spaces (E). Then shuffle the Eclipse tile (pick a face up randomly) together with the 10 remaining Artifact tiles, without looking at them, and place this little tile deck face down near the 2 revealed Artifact tiles (F). If the Eclipse tile is the top tile of the deck, reshuffle the tiles until it is not visible.
3. Deal 1 Role card to each player. Keep your Role card face down in front of you (G). You can look at your Role card at any time.
4. Deal out the World cards (H) according to the player count.
   • 3-4 players: 9 cards / player. 5 players: 11 cards / player. Place any leftover card (3-player game: 3 cards; 5-player game: 1 card) by the board, beside its World's space (I).
5. The player with the First Player marker will be the first Guide of the round.

A Turn of Play

The Guide chooses a card from their hand, and places it face up in front of them. This card indicates the Destination for the turn (the World that the Shamans will protect this turn). Then each other player, in clockwise order, MUST play a card:

• If your card matches the Destination (same World's color): Place it face up in front of you; it will be resolved after everyone has played their card.

• If your card does not match the Destination (different World's color): Immediately advance the Shadow pawn 1 space on the Time track. If the Shadow pawn reaches the Moon marked with the Shadows symbol, the Shadows immediately win the round.

  Place the card by the board, beside its World's space. If all the cards of a World are now placed (each World is made of 6 cards for 3-4-player games, or 8 cards for 5-player games), the player who placed the card must immediately perform that World's ritual (see Ritual Effects).

Note: There are no constraints about which card you play, unlike in many trick-taking games; you can play any card you wish. You may speak freely about your cards, as long as you do not mention their colors, worlds, or numeric values.

Resolving Cards

Once everyone has placed a card, it is time to evaluate the cards that match the color of the Destination, to see who played the smallest number matching the Destination, and who played the largest number matching the Destination.

Note: If you are the only person who played a card matching the Destination (or the others who did have been eliminated), then you played both the smallest AND largest number.

Then, do the following, in strictly this order:

1. The player who played the card with the smallest number: Take an Artifact tile of your choice: either one of the 2 that are revealed, or the top one from the deck. If you draw the top tile of the deck, you may keep it face down if you wish, unless it is the Mask of Truth, which always must be revealed and activated.

   If you took a revealed artifact, reveal a new one to replace it.

   If, at any moment, the Eclipse tile is visible atop the deck, immediately apply its effect.

2. The player who played the card with the largest number: Collect all of the cards in front of players, and place them by the board beside the Destination World's space, keeping all of the values visible. If all the cards of a World are now placed this way, you must immediately perform that World's ritual (see below, Ritual Effects).

   If players still have cards in their hands, you become the new Guide, and begin a new round; otherwise, the round ends.

The Eclipse Tile's Effect

Each player must pass a card from their hand to their left or right neighbor, according to the direction of the arrow visible on the Eclipse tile. Then discard the Eclipse tile.

Note: If the Eclipse is revealed in the last turn, some players may not have a card in their hand. In this case, only players with at least one card in hand will deal and receive a card.

Artifact Tiles' Effects

Portal: Keep this tile in front of you. You can discard it at any time to move the Shadow pawn forward or back 1 space on its track.

Remember: If the Shadow pawn, at any moment whatsoever, reaches the Moon, the Shadows immediately win the round.

You can play your Portal tile at absolutely any moment to apply its effect, even just before being eliminated, or just before the Shadow pawn reaches the Moon.

Mask of Truth: If you take this tile, you MUST immediately reveal YOUR Role card. Even if you drew this tile from the top of the deck, you must reveal it immediately.

Ritual Dagger: Keep this tile in front of you. You can discard it to eliminate a player when you perform a Neutralization ritual (see page 5).

Moon Shard: Keep this tile in front of you. At the end of the round, if you have at least two of these and have not been eliminated, you earn 2 victory points.

Ritual Effects

Stabilization Ritual: Move the Shadow pawn back 2 spaces on its track OR take an Artifact tile (one of the 2 revealed ones, or one from the top of the deck).

Permutation Ritual: Exchange your Role card with another player. Both of you can immediately look at your new Role card. This might cause you to switch teams in the middle of the round!

Illumination Ritual: Take 1 victory point from the supply.

Neutralization Ritual: If you have a face up Ritual Dagger visible in front of you, you MUST discard it and choose another player to eliminate for the round.

Note: If your Ritual Dagger is face down, you can decide not to reveal it. If you have no Ritual Dagger, or decide not to reveal one, this ritual has no effect.

Effects of Elimination

The eliminated player reveals their Role card.

• If the eliminated player is a Shaman: Advance the Shadow pawn 1 space for each card the eliminated player still had in their hand. This might cause the Shadows to win the round. The eliminated player sets their cards aside, face down. These cards will not be placed this round, and thus certain Worlds will not be completed.
• If the eliminated player is a Shadow: If this was the last Shadow in play, the Shamans immediately win the round. Otherwise (but only in a 5-player game), the eliminated player reveals their hand and places each card on its matching World, without advancing the Shadow pawn. This can trigger a chain reaction if all the cards of a World are placed. When this happens, the player who eliminated the Shadow player resolves the Ritual effects in any order. Then the game continues as usual.

Note 1: Remove the eliminated player's Artifact tiles from play until the end of the round.

Note 2: You also collect and place the card from each eliminated player, even though you ignore that card's value when determining who played the smallest and largest values. If an eliminated player played the only card matching the Destination this turn, the eliminated player chooses who will be the new Guide.

End of the Round or the Game

The round can end in several ways:

1. When the players have no more cards in their hands: The Shamans managed to protect the Spirit World and win the round.
2. When the last Shadow is eliminated: The Shamans managed to expose all the Shadows and win the round.
3. When the Shadow pawn reaches the final space of its track: The Shadows manage to corrupt the Spirit World and win the round.

• If the Shamans won the round, each Shaman player who was not eliminated gains 2 victory points.
• If the Shadows won the round, each Shadow player who was not eliminated gains 3 victory points.
• If a player who was not eliminated has 2 (or 3) Moon Shards, that player gains 2 additional victory points.
• If nobody has a total of 8 or more victory points, begin a new round. The player with the First Player marker passes it to the player on their left. You keep nothing but your victory points from one round to the next. All players and all cards are back in the game for the new round.

As soon as someone has a total of at least 8 victory points, the player with the most victory points wins the game. If it's a tie, keep playing additional rounds until only one player has the single most points.

Note: Shadows do not win the round if they eliminate all the Shamans but the Shadow pawn has not reached the Moon by the end of the round.

Example: Resolving a Turn

Roy is the Guide, and plays the Purple 1. The purple world becomes the Destination for the round.

Pris decides to "follow suit" and play the Purple 6.

Rachel plays the Red 6. The Shadow pawn advances 1 space on the Time track as a result. Rachel places the card on the Red World. Because this was not the final card for the Red World, nothing happens.

Rick plays the Brown 5. This advances the Shadow pawn 1 more space. Then Rick places this card on the Brown World. This is the 8th and final Brown card.

Rick has a Ritual Dagger, and thus performs the Neutralization ritual. Rick decides to eliminate Roy. This reveals Roy's Role card: Shaman! Roy still has 4 hand cards. This advances the Shadow pawn 4 spaces on the Time track! Then Roy's cards are discarded.

Finally, Eldon plays the Purple 7. Each player has played a card. We now proceed to resolve the cards matching the Destination. Roy has been eliminated, so his card is placed by the board, beside the Purple World's space, but its value is ignored.

Resolving cards:

Among the remaining players who followed the Guide by playing Purple, Pris played the smallest value. So Pris gains an artifact. She decides to take the Moon Shard, since this will be her 2nd one, which will provide 2 points at the end of the round, assuming she is not eliminated.

Eldon played the largest Purple value, and thus takes the 3 Purple cards played this turn, and places them on the Purple World on the board. In doing so, Eldon has placed the 8th and final Purple World card, and thus triggers the Moon ritual, immediately gaining 1 victory point. The turn is complete, and Eldon becomes the Guide for the next turn.

Credits

A game by Cédrick Chaboussit, illustrated by Maud Chalmel.

Acknowledgments:

Cédrick: "Thanks to Time Bomb for the spark, to all the playtesters and publishers who crossed the prototype's path and made it grow. A huge thank you to Studio H for immediately believing in this divisive game, replete with emotions and situation reversals, and to Maud Chalmel for providing a magnificent setting."

Maud: "I thank my little cosmic forces that pull the strings of my ideas, of my inspirations, and of my hands. Also, and above all, a big thank you to the whole Studio H team for their confidence and sympathy."

All rights reserved. © Studio H 2020.