The Reaper Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Materials
• Setup
• Game
  • 1. The Challenge
  • 2. The Bet
  • 3. The Throw
  • 4. The Challenge
  • 5. The Salvation
  • 6. The End
• End of the Game
• Cards in Detail
  • Challenge Cards
  • Fate Cards
  • Player Cards
  • Gifts of the Death Cards
• Phase Summary

Materials

• 13 Challenge Cards (numered from 7 to 17)
• 10 Fate Cards
• 25 Equipement Cards (5 for each player in five different colours)
• 5 Waiver Cards (1 for each player in five different colours)
• 17 Gifts of the Death Cards
• 20 Player dice (4 for each player in five different colours.)
• 5 Death Dice (1 for each player, Black)
• 5 Salvation Counters (1 for each player in five different colours)
• 5 Dice counters (1 for each player in five different colours)
• 5 Death Dice Counters (1 for each player in five different colours)
• 5 Challenge Counter (1 for each player in five different colours)
• 8 Diamond Reward Tokens (with values 8 and 9)
• 8 Gold Reward Tokens (with values 6, 7 and 8)
• 8 Silver Reward Tokens (with values 4, 5 and 6)
• 8 Bronze Reward Tokens (with values 2, 3 and 4)
• 1 Reaper Token
• 1 Skeletal Hand Token
• 1 Salvation Board
• 1 Challenge Board
• 1 Grave Area
• This rulebook

Setup

For 4 players.

• The player who feels more dead takes the Death Token. (The English text says "Death Token"; the component list calls it the Reaper Token.)
• Arrange the Salvation and Challenge boards so that all players can reach them.
• Put the Skeletal Hand and the Challenge counters near the Challenge Board.
• Place the Grave Area near the Challenge Board.
• Shuffle the Challenge deck and the Fate deck. Randomly choose 6 cards from each deck and place them facedown on the Grave Area. Put the rest of the cards in the box.
• Each player puts his/her Salvation Counter on space 3 of the Salvation Track, the Dice Counter on space 13 of the hourglass and the Death Dice Counter on space 2 of the hourglass.
• Place the Reward Tokens on the Salvation Board according to the number of players, as schemed on the board itself. If less than 5 players, place the excess tokens in the box. Shuffle and place the Death Gift Cards.

Example: In a 4 players game place the Gold Rewards in the upper position, the Silver Rewards in the second and the Bronze Rewards in the third.

• Each player takes the 4 dice, the Waiver Card and the 5 Equipement Cards of his/her colour, plus a Black Dice of Death. Each player draws one Death Card from the Death Cards deck.

Game

The Reaper game takes place in a series of 6 CHALLENGES. Each challenge consists of the following 6 PHASES:

1. The Challenge
2. The Bet
3. The Throw
4. The Challenge
5. The Salvation
6. The End

1. The Challenge

Turn the first Challenge and Fate cards from their respective card decks on the Grave Area and position the Skeletal Hand Token indicating the number of the Challenge Card on the Challenge Board.

2. The Bet

The players can secretly bet some dice from its own reserve to participate in the challenge launched by Death, which is to get as close as possible to the number indicated.

At the beginning of the game each player has 13 Player dice and 2 Death Dice available.

Note (in-file): this line says 2 Death Dice per player, while the Materials list and the Setup give each player one Black Dice of Death (5 in total). Transcribed as printed.

They can bet up to 4 normal dice and 1 Death Dice.

The bet is carried out by holding in the fist the dice you wish to use and hiding those that you don't want to use.

When all players have chosen, they simultaneously reveal their bet.

The player who bet the most number of dice, counting both the player and the Death dice, immediately takes the Reaper Token from the active side, then, starting with the owner of the Reaper token, clockwise, each player updates their salvation counter, lowering them by one for each betted dice.

In the case of equal number of dice betted, the Reaper token goes to the player involved in the tie that is clockwise closest to the former Reaper token holder.

Example: For a challenge of 12 in which all 2 become 5, Geene, holding the Reaper token, bets 3 yellow dice, Richard 1 red dice and 1 black dice and Valery 2 green dice and 1 black. The Reaper Token passes to Valery, then everyone lowers their Tokens on the hourglass (Player Dice Token and Death Dice Token).

You can never bet more dice than you have in reserve.

You may not bet any dice at all, in that case the player in question does not participate in the next stages of the challenge, returning to the game in the next challenge.

3. The Throw

All players simultaneously roll the dice betted. After that, before the dice are placed on the board, starting with the possessor of the Reaper token, each player may choose to discard a face down Equipement card or Gifts of the Death card from his hand to roll again ALL of the dice betted.

The card is discarded face down without activating its power. It is not possible to choose which dice to roll, all the dice must be rerolled (including any Death dice). You can roll again many times, by discarding a card each time (until you have no more cards).

As soon as the player accepts the result, he/she positions his/her dice on the board. From that moment on, the Fate Card is activated, which affects all player dice, but it has no effect on Death dice. The player changes, if necessary, the result of his dice according to the Fate card, then indicates with the Challenge Counter of his colour the sum of his dice on the challenge board's track.

ATTENTION: the Death dice always DOUBLE its value and must be placed in the appropriate space of the Challenge board (the one with the X2) next dice of your colour!

The possibility to reroll the player's own dice goes clockwise from player to player. When everyone has their dice on the board you pass on to the next stage, The Challenge.

Example: In the challenge of 12 in which all 2 become 5, Richard (red player) roll the betted dice, 1 red dice and 1 black dice of death, obtaining respectively, 5 and 6 for a total of 17 (6 for the dice of death is worth 12). He chooses to discard an Equipement card from his hand to reroll them both and this time he gets a double 2. He decides to put his dice on the board and changes the face of the red dice from 2 to 5 as a result of the Fate Card; then he places its challenge counter on space 9 (5 for the red dice + 4 for the death dice).

4. The Challenge

Starting with the owner of the Reaper Token and continuing clockwise, each player in his/her turn can take one of the following actions:

1. WAIVER - The player places the Waiver card next to the Salvation board, in the space under its colour. The player who has given up will no longer be able to participate at this challenge.

2. PLAY A CARD - The player plays an Equipement or Gifts of the Death card in favour or against an opponent. The Challenge board has three card spaces for every player. Two of these spaces can contain only cards played by the player of that colour to change their dice. Single space can only be occupied by cards played by opponents. In any challenge, no more than 3 cards can be played on each player.

Example: It is Geene's turn who has already played a card in her favour and is satisfied with her result, but she don't want to leave the challenge so she chooses to play a card against an opponent, the single player space of the red player is occupied by a card so she can only play it against another player.

Cards played immediately trigger their power. When playing a card that changes the result of a dice, you have to rotate the selected dice on the corresponding face. Under no circumstances the value of a dice can exceed 6 or be below 1. The Equipement Cards can affect only the Player dice (the coloured ones). Gifts of the Death cards, on the other hand, can affect both the player dice and the black dice of Death.

ATTENTION: After applying the changes, the new colored dice values are affected by the fate card!

Example: In the trial of 12 in which all 2 become 5, Valery roll two dice of the value of 6 and 3. During the challenge phase, she plays a card that decreases her 3 by making it a 2. As a result of fate card, that 2 immediately becomes a 5. Bringing the total dice value to 11. Valery moves her Challenge Counter to the new value.

Each time you change the result of a dice, you must move the Challenge Counter of its colour to the challenge track so that it indicates the new sum.

It is always possible to play Equipement or Death Cards in favour or against an opponent without activating its power, but only to use the Initiative (the number at the top left on the card itself). The initiative will affect the draws In the next phase "The Salvation".

For details on the powers of the cards, see the chapter at the end of the rulebook.

3. USE THE REAPER TOKEN - The possessor of the Reaper token may, during its turn, turn it on the back and pass the action phase without Waiver, so he can choose, in the next turn, if he wish to Play a Card or Waive.

The players continue to perform an action in a clockwise direction until everyone has played their Waiver card.

5. The Salvation

When all players' Waiver cards are next to the Challenge board, you pass on to calculating the Salvation Points.

• Players who have their own Challenge Indicator exactly on the Skeletal Hand Token, get 2 Bonus points. Advance their respective Salvation Tokens on the Salvation Point track.
• If the Reaper Token is on the active side (it has not been used to pass the turn) the player who owns it gets 1 Bonus Salvation point.
• Each player who has his/her own challenge marker below the Skeletal Hand (he/she passes the challenge limit) will have busted and will not participate in the division of rewards; also the one who will have busted with the highest result (or with the largest initiative in case of tie), will be penalized by 2 points and will receive a Gifts of the Death card. Subtract 2 to the player's Salvation Counter on the Salvation track (you can never go under 1) and draw A Gifts of the Death card from the Deck.
• All those whose challenge points are at or below the Skeletal Hand, will receive the reward provided by the Salvation board. The one who has gained the best result will get the first reward on the Salvation board, the second the second reward and so on as long as there are players.

NOTE: All draws in point calculation are resolved by the Initiative, the number on the top left on the Equipement and Gifts of the Death Cards. The player with the largest sum of Initiative on the cards played in his/her own area (in favour and against) is considered ahead of opponents of equal rank. In the case of a further tie, the player holding the Reaper Token or the player clockwise closest to him is considered ahead.

Example 1: In the challende of 12 of a three-player game, Geene has scored 11, Richard and Valery have both scored 10. Geene gets the gold reward, while the second place, and therefore the bronze reward, is for Richard who has 3 of initiative against 2 of Valery, who is ranked last and gets a Gifts of the Death Card.

Example 2: In the trial of 12 of a three-player game, Geene and Richard score 13, while Valery reaches 10. Both Geene and Richard have busted, but Geene's largest Initiative condemns her having the highest score, losing 2 Points and choosing a Gifts of the Death Card. Richard gets neither points nor penalties. Valery takes the gold reward for the first place. The bronze reward and the Gifts of the Death card for subsequent placements are not awarded.

Anyone who has not betted for this trial will not score or lose points.

6. The End

Each player retrieves his own Waiver card and dice, including any Death dice.

All cards played on the board are discarded face down. No player can ever see the discarded cards.

The Challenges and Fate cards of the challenge are discarded, then, if there are still cards on the Grave Area, you start again from Stage 1 "The Challenge", otherwise the game is over and you procede with counting the points.

End of the Game

When there are no more Challenge and Fate cards in the deck (after "The End" phase of the Sixth Challenge) The game ends and you count the Salvation points made by the players.

Each player sums up the dice and the cards left behind at the end of the game (Death dice apply as a unit). The player with the highest amount gets 3 Salvation point (Move its counter on the track). In case of a draw, all players involved in the draw score 3 points.

All players reveal their Reward Tokens, add their value and mark it on the Salvation track, adding them to the points obtained during the game.

Whoever scores the highest score is the winner and he/she may return among the living!

Cases of tie between two or more players will be solved by the Reward Tokens. The player that has got more of the most precious type (or tops up in case of additional draws) will be the winner.

Example: Geene and Richard scored 40 points, Valery only 36. Both Geene and Richard have 2 Gold Reward Tokens, so they look at the bronze: Geene has 3, Richard only 2. Geene wins the match.

In the rare case of draws on all Rewards, Death will save all the players involved in this extreme draw. It'll take somebody else in your place...

Cards in Detail

Challenge Cards

Challenge cards indicate the value of the challenge launched by Death. There are 13 cards with values ranging from 7 to 17.

Fate Cards

There will always be a Fate card changing every death challenge. The effects of these cards will apply from when a player puts his dice on the board until he finishes THE CHALLENGE.

As soon as the condition described by the card occurs, apply the effects immediately, and possibly even after a player has played a card.

THE DEATH DICE ARE NEVER INFLUENCED BY THE FATE CARDS.

The Fate deck (10 cards):

• Turn dice with result 1 on face 6.
• Turn dice with result 2 on face 5.
• Turn dice with result 5 on face 2.
• Turn dice with result 6 on face 1.
• Discard dice with result 3.
• Discard dice with result 4.
• Double the value of all dice.
• No changes. (3 cards)

Player Cards

All Equipment and Death cards have an effect that can be used in your favour or to damage an opponent.

Each time these cards require a choice, it is always the active player who does it. If you change the dice results, immediately update its Challenge indicator. Player cards have the initiative number in the upper left corner (see the Note in Chapter 5). Player cards are Equipement and Gift of the Death cards.

The Equipement cards in each player's colour (5 per player):

• RELAUNCH (2 cards) - Choose how many and which dice to relaunch.
• +/-1 - Changes the dice result of +/- one. Turn the dice on the new result.
• TURN INTO 4 - Choose a dice and turn it onto face 4.
• TURN INTO 3 - Choose a dice and turn it onto face 3.

The Waiver card (1 per player):

• WAIVER - The player that played that card skip the current challenge (See Cap.4).

Gifts of the Death Cards

These cards can affect both Player Dice and Death Dice. There are 2X copies of the "COPY" card and 3X copies of all other cards. The Gifts of the Death deck is composed of the following 17 cards:

• BLOCK (3 cards) - No cards can be played in the player cards area for the rest of the challenge.
• POINTS (3 cards) - Add or subtract one salvation point for each dice with an odd result.
• CHOOSE A FACE (3 cards) - Choose a dice and turn it into any face.
• TRANSFORM DICE (3 cards) - Turn a Death dice into Player dice or vice versa. Move the dice in the proper area.
• DISCARD A DICE (3 cards) - Choose a dice and discard it.
• COPY (2 cards) - Replicates any other power already played on the board during this challenge.

Phase Summary

1. THE CHALLENGE - Turn face up the first Challenge card and the first Fate card on the Grave area.
   1. Place the Skeletal Hand Token indicating the number on the Challenge card on the Challenge board.
2. THE BET - Choose secretly the number of dice you want to bet. Max 4 player Dice and 1 black dice of Death.
   1. The player who bet the most number of dice, counting both the player and the Death dice, immediately takes the Reaper Token.
   2. Update the Dice Counter on the Salvation board.
3. THE THROW - All players roll the dice betted.
   1. In turn order, each player may choose to discard a face down Equipement card or Gifts of Death card from his hand to roll again ALL of the dice betted.
   2. Place the dice on the Challenge board.
   3. Apply any modify shown on the Fate card.
   4. Indicate the sum of the dice (double the value of the Death Dice), with the Challenge counter on the track on the Challenge board.
4. THE CHALLENGE - In turn order player plays an Equipement or Gifts of Death card in favour or against an opponent.
   1. The Max number of cards playable in favour or against a player, is shown on the Challenge board.
   2. The possessor of the Reaper token may, during its turn, turn it on the back and pass the action phase without Waive.
   3. Activate the Fate card just after a dice has been modified by a card played.
   4. When all players' Waiver cards are next to the Challenge board, the phase ends.