The 3 Commandments
The 3 Commandments Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
In the Holy Circle
What is where?
The Holy Circle is where the ritual will take place. It is divided into twelve areas: the outer ring, the center, five hexagons, and five triangles, which form the inside together. At the bottom you see the spaces for the cards. Place the artefact cards on the left space and the action cards on the right space.
Starting areas are where novices take an artefact from. Target areas are where novices place artefacts.
Areas with shared edges are adjacent to each other. Hence, B is adjacent to A and C, but A is not adjacent to C. At the end of a turn the artefact moved is always in the target area.
(The rulebook's diagram labels the Holy Circle's areas as hexagon, triangle, outer ring and center, and marks areas A, B and C.)
The Course of a Ritual
Each player is High Priestess once and leads a ritual. The ritual:
- The High Priestess draws four cards and determines two dos and one taboo.
- The High Priestess distributes the artefacts on the board however she wishes.
- Novices take turns making one move each.
- After a move the High Priestess marks the cards that matched the novice's move.
- Novices get karma for their moves. If a novice got karma, the High Priestess turns over all destiny cards to their neutral side.
- If a novice did not receive karma, the High Priestess turns over one destiny card to its negative side.
- If she turns over the fourth destiny card, the High Priestess is disempowered, all novices get 20 karma and the High Priestess does not get any karma at all! The ritual is over at once.
- When all novices have taken their turns, the High Priestess gets as much karma as the most zealous novice got.
- After everybody has been the High Priestess once, the player with the highest amount of karma is declared the winner of game.
Things easily forgotten
- When you get "bad karma", you do not have to give back karma already won.
- You may do anything with the artefact as long as it is returned to the board unharmed.
Variant for Experts
Try not using the markers, this makes complying with religions more difficult.
What does the box contain?
- 71 artefact cards (8 of which are blank – think of cards yourself). These cards describe movements of artefacts or their constellations in the Holy Circle. Each of the cards can be a do or a taboo in a religion. The figure on the card tells you how much (good or bad) karma the relevant action brings. If there is a question mark instead of a figure, the card's value is variable and is determined according to the constellation in the Holy Circle.
- 44 action cards (7 of which are blank – think of actions yourself). These cards describe actions novices can take, such as "dance", "stand up", "sing", or "act macho". Each of the cards can be a do or a taboo in any given religion. The figure on the card tells you how much (good or bad) karma the relevant action brings. In general, the High Priestess decides if an action complies with a do or a taboo. It is important that the High Priestess interprets cards in the same way from turn to turn. In case of doubt the High Priestess is always right.
- 4 destiny cards. These cards indicate how successful a High Priestess is in communicating her religion. If four novices in a row do not receive any karma, or only bad karma, the High Priestess is disempowered.
- 1 game board
- 15 artefacts (5 each in white, black and brown)
- 1 Holy Border. This card marks the border between commandments and taboo for both High Priestess and novices.
- 1 pad for noting down who has got how much karma (you will need a pen)
- 3 markers
- 4 card feet
What happens before the game?
Place the board on the table. It shows the Holy Circle in which the rituals will take place, the graphic ring and the area beyond this. The Holy Circle is divided into twelve areas, the center, five areas touching the center (hexagons), five areas further out from the center (triangles), and the outer ring. Shuffle the action and the artefact cards separately and place them as two face down stacks on the board (see picture on page 6). Put the blank cards aside. When you play for the first time, check out some of the cards to get a feeling for possible commandments and taboos.
Put the Holy Border into a card foot. The players choose a starting player to be the first High Priestess. She takes the markers, the pad and a pen and notes down the names of all players including her own on the pad.
Now the novices can see whether action and/or artefact cards bring good or bad karma.
The High Priestess distributes the artefacts to the different areas on the board however she wishes. Each artefact must be clearly placed in an area (not on a line), more than one artefact may be in any area. The artefacts may lie, stand, touch or be on top of each other.
Playing the Game
Each player takes the role of High Priestess once and guides the other players through a ritual. The number of players determines the number of rounds each ritual will have. The novices will each get one attempt per round.
| Number of players | Rounds per ritual |
|---|---|
| 3 | 4 |
| 4-5 | 3 |
| 6-7 | 2 |
After the last round in which the novices attempt to comply with the religious rules, the High Priestess gets as much karma as the most zealous novice in the ritual got. Once every player has been the High Priestess, the player with the highest amount of karma is declared the winner.
The Ritual
The High Priestess
The High Priestess puts the Holy Border and the three empty card feet in front of her. She puts the four destiny cards next to each other in front of her, too, with the neutral back side facing up. The High Priestess draws the top two cards from each of the two stacks, so that she holds four cards in her hand. She then chooses one of the cards and discards it face down into the box. Next she decides which of the other cards represents a taboo in her religion. The other two cards describe positive commandments. Accordingly, she places the cards into the card feet in front of her so that from her perspective two positive commandments cards are on the right and one taboo card is on the left hand side. She makes sure that the novices can only see the backs of the cards.
How can I be a good High Priestess?
The High Priestess wants to make at least one novice get as much karma as possible. The less the others get, the better for her. She should choose the commandments and place the artefacts accordingly. She should take special care to prevent the novices from not getting any karma at all.
Example 1 A
Kara is the High Priestess. She draws four cards:
- If you do not move the upper part of your body.
- If you dance.
- If you move a white artefact.
- Number of artefacts in the starting area.
She looks at the board and decides to discard the first card "If you do not move the upper part of your body". Then she determines that it is bad for your karma "If you move a white artefact", and puts the relevant card on the left side of the Holy Border. She then places the other two cards on the right side of the Holy Border.
Example 2 A (later in the game)
Now, Fred is High Priestess. He picked three commandments which prevented the other players from getting much karma.
- POSITIVE: Number of areas with artefacts of exactly one color.
- POSITIVE: If you ask the High Priestess for permission to take your turn.
- NEGATIVE: Number of areas with at least one black artefact.
He is now under pressure, because three novices in a row have failed to get any karma. Now it is Gordon's turn.
Example 3 A (briefly before the end of the game)
Gordon is the last High Priestess. He chose three commandments, among them "if you act macho". This is a positive commandment.
The Novices
The novices take turns making a move. On each turn, the player takes an artefact from the board and moves it to somewhere on the board. It must be placed clearly in an area and not touching any line. The player may place it back on the same area where he took it from. If a novice makes an illegal move (such as placing the artefact onto a line or moving two artefacts), he does not get any karma; all other novices get two karma.
Moves
A move starts with taking exactly ONE artefact and ends with putting THIS artefact on an area of the board. During the move the novice can act in any way he wants to and can do so by himself and/or with the artefact.
More specifically, a player may:
- touch other artefacts
- touch other novices and the High Priestess
- leave the table with the artefact
A player may not:
- move more than one artefact
- place an artefact on lines
- remove artefacts from the board permanently
Example 1 B
Jenn is the first novice to take her turn. She takes a black artefact from a triangle where three artefacts are remaining, stands up, talks to the artefact, smiles at Kara in a friendly manner and then puts the artefact into the center.
Example 2 B (later in the game)
Gordon does not have a clue. The other novices took about every action he could think of, but nobody got any karma for it. Instead, almost everybody was told "bad karma". Rather unintentionally he asks "May I?" and starts his turn. You can see High Priestess Fred relax when Gordon then takes a black artefact from a triangle and puts it into the center, where there already are two black artefacts.
Example 3 B (briefly before the end of the game)
Kara stands up, stamps her feet on the ground and takes a white artefact from the center. She stretches out her arm and holds the artefact in front of her, saying: "Hey sweetie, all alone today?" Gordon smiles: that sounded pretty macho to him! However, when Jenn only stood up beforehand, he did not count that as acting macho.
Karma
The High Priestess will track karma earned by the novices during the ritual using the top-most empty line on the karma pad. At the end of each novice's turn, the High Priestess uses the red markers to indicate which of the cards the novice matched with his actions, if any, and sets the other markers aside.
If a card that refers to a number – and carries a "?" on the top – does not gain any karma, it will not be marked.
To determine the karma earned, she adds the karma on the marked positive commandments and subtracts the karma on the taboo if it was marked. If a marked card has a "?" for its value, she calculates the actual value from the constellation in the Holy Circle.
IMPORTANT: The High Priestess NEVER tells how much karma a single card gained.
- If the total is higher than zero, the High Priestess tells the total and tallies it on the pad under the novice's name. Afterwards she flips all destiny cards so that their neutral side is face up.
- If the total is zero, the novice does not get any karma, the High Priestess announces "no karma" and does not note anything on the pad. Afterwards she flips one destiny card so that its negative side is face up.
- If the total is below zero, the novice does not get any karma, and does not have to return any, either. The High Priestess announces "bad karma" and does not note anything on the pad. Afterwards she flips one destiny card so that its negative side is face up.
Example 1 C
Kara now evaluates Jenn's move. She only puts one marker in front of the card "number of artefacts in the starting area", because Jenn neither danced nor moved a white artefact. She tallies and announces "three karma for Jenn."
Example 2 C (later in the game)
Fred puts markers in front of all three cards. Then he says: "You get four karma" and tallies Gordon's total. Gordon actually scored seven positive karma, because he complied with both positive commandments: he asked for permission before he started his move, which scored three karma, and he scored four karma for the areas in which there are artefacts of one color only. However, the three areas with black artefacts in them cost him three karma at the same time, so that the total was four karma. Fred can now relax and may turn over the three negative destiny cards back to their neutral side.
Disempowerment or Ritual Continued
If the High Priestess turned over the fourth destiny card to its negative side, she is disempowered. The ritual is over at once. All novices receive 20 karma each. The High Priestess does not get any karma at all. The next player becomes High Priestess. If the High Priestess was not disempowered, the next novice takes his turn to make his move.
Ritual Finished Regularly
If all novices took all their turns without the fourth destiny card being turned over, the ritual ends. The High Priestess gets as much karma as the most successful novice. She puts the artefact and action cards she used back into the box and passes the Holy Border, the card feet, the pad and the pen on to her left neighbour.
End of the Game
When each player has been the High Priestess once, the player with the highest total of karma wins the game. If two or more players have the same amount of karma, they share the victory.