Story War
Story War Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
- Sort the cards into three stacks: Warriors (red), Items (blue) and Battlefields (green).
- Each player draws 3 Warrior cards and 2 Item cards. Players are allowed to look at the cards in their own hand.
- Whoever owns this game is the Judge for the first battle. The Judge does not participate in the battle. Everyone else splits into teams.
SOLO (3-4 players): Everyone is fighting for themselves, acting as a "team" of one.
TEAMS (5-8 players): The players sitting on the Judge's left team up against an equal number of players sitting on the Judge's right. A 5 or 6-player game has teams of 2; a 7 or 8-player game has teams of 3.
Maverick: If you have 6 or 8 players, the person sitting opposite to the Judge is the Maverick, who can try to join either team at any time.
Battle
- The Judge draws a Battlefield card off the top of the deck, reads it out loud, and places it face-up in the center of the table.
- The other players each choose a Warrior from their hand and play it face-down. Teammates may discuss which cards to play, and even trade.
- Once all the Warrior cards are played, everyone reveals them by flipping them over simultaneously.
The battle has begun!
- Players control their own Warriors by describing their actions out loud in an open discussion. Anything any player says must be accepted as true unless the Judge says otherwise. Players may challenge an opponent's claim, which forces the Judge to either accept or reject the action.
- If an individual Warrior is weakened, turn it sideways. If a Warrior is defeated, flip it over.
(The sheet shows three card positions: Normal, Weakened and Defeated.)
- Players may play a single Item card from their hand to support their Warriors at any time. Only one Item is allowed per team, per battle. The Maverick cannot play an Item.
- A team can only win the battle by defeating all the Warriors on the opposing team (excluding the Maverick) while at least one Warrior on their own team survives. The Maverick can only win by successfully allying with the winning team.
- When a team announces they are ready to give their final argument, the other team must remain silent while they explain to the Judge why their team would ultimately win the battle. When they are finished, the other team may give their final argument.
- Once both teams have spoken, the Judge recaps the story of the battle and reaches a conclusion as to who should ultimately win. When the Judge declares a winner, their decision is final.
- The losing team discards their Warrior cards. The Battlefield card, as well as any Item cards played this turn, are also discarded. The winning team's Warrior cards become victory cards, which may not be played again. Players can set aside their victory cards or hold them backwards in their hand.
Regroup
- Everyone draws new cards to replace any cards they used on this turn. Everyone must always end up with 3 Warriors and 2 Items in their hand before the next turn starts. If any deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile of the same color and use that as the new deck.
- The player sitting to the Judge's left becomes the Judge for the next battle. Everyone else splits into teams.
- In a TEAM game, the players on the new Judge's left group up against those on the new Judge's right. In a 6 or 8 player game, the player opposite the new Judge becomes the new Maverick.
Victory
Repeat BATTLE and REGROUP until everyone has judged twice in a SOLO game, or once in a TEAM game.
The players with the most victory cards win, but the real goal is to tell memorable stories and have fun!
Being Weakened
What Is Defeat?
Defeating a Warrior doesn't necessarily mean killing it. A Warrior might simply be rendered harmless, or driven insane, or propelled far from the Battlefield by rocket.
Being Weakened
Being weakened can mean a whole range of things: roughed up past a certain point, a little bit on fire, non-fatally poisoned, terrified, humiliated, just grossed out - if a Warrior's been hampered without being taken out entirely, that's weakened.
As well as being a good way to keep the state of play clearly visible, the weakened state is also useful as a compromise. Sometimes a player may not be ready to accept defeat, but may admit that his character is weakened as part of an opposing Warrior's defeat.
Judging Tips
It's important to remember that when you're the Judge, the other players have to convince you, not the other way around. Your view of the story is the only view that matters.
Do hear your players out, but if you've made up your mind on something, don't be afraid to declare it with finality and shut down further argument. Above all, don't be afraid to go with your gut, and always remember - you're the Judge, and your word is law... at least until the next turn!
A round must always end in a victory. The Judge is not allowed to call a tie or a draw. If a match is too close to call, the Judge may have to evaluate the situation from a different angle.
As a guideline, keep an eye out for one Warrior surviving just a little longer than their opponent. In cases of mutual destruction, one Warrior might still have the moral victory. If the Warriors resolve their differences and become friends, choose the one most likely to betray the others twenty years down the track.
Remember that a new Judge comes with new rulings! Just because the last Judge thought that a zombie couldn't climb a tree doesn't mean the next one has to go along with that.
Example:
A: "The dragon sends a massive blast of flame down the hallway, toasting everyone!"
B: "Nah, Puss has got fantastic reflexes, he leaps out of the way as soon as he sees the dragon's head peer around the corner."
J: "He's fast, but I don't think he's that fast. I'll say he gets lightly singed, and he's distracted now trying to put out his tail."
Challenging
As soon as you feel like you're just going in circles with an argument, it's time to challenge. The Judge's ruling is definitive and final.
Example:
A: "The Witch uses the crater of the volcano as a giant cauldron, and brews up a massive potion to-"
B: "Hold it! That would take forever to set up, the Golem would just beat her up before she could."
A: "No way, this is totally the Witch's island. It's her hideout! She's had the volcano set up like that for years."
B: "What?! Judge - I'm challenging that. Can the Witch use the volcano as a cauldron?"
J: "I'm going to say yes."
Item Notes
Some Items may only be used a limited number of times while some may be used over and over. An Item card may be flipped over to indicate that it can no longer be used.
The player playing the Item card can suggest whether the Item's been suddenly dropped into the Battlefield or if one of the Warriors had it all along but, as with everything else, it's ultimately the Judge's call.
More Story War!
The game doesn't end here! Visit [Link]/storywar for fan art, cartoons, comics, video games and more!
You'll also find new game modes like:
- Trial Tales - Do battle in a court of law, with Warriors as the suspects!
- Kiss & Make Up - Fight for the most valuable treasure of all: true love.
- Youngster Mode - An alternate rule set designed for young children.